Arne Slot says Andy Robertson’s red card came from a kick he received from Issa Diop in the opener of Liverpool’s draw with Fulham.
Andreas Pereira gave Fulham the lead after 11 minutes and the visitors were in a strong position to win at Anfield when Robertson was sent off six minutes later.
The Scotland captain’s poor first touch saw Harry Wilson latch on to the ball and then stumble, denying a clear scoring chance.
Marco Silva’s men could not make their first-half dominance count as they failed to double their lead.
This invited Liverpool back into the game and a home goal felt inevitable, coming just two minutes after the break through Cody Gakpo.
Fulham managed to weather the Anfield storm as the Reds fired at the Kop in the second half and took the lead for the second time in the 76th minute when Rodrigo Muniz scored from close range.
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Liverpool equalized for the second time thanks to a fine Diogo Jota goal four minutes from time.
For much of the second half it didn’t look like Slots’ side were man down but it ultimately cost them a comeback victory.
They are still five points ahead Chelsea in the second and head coach Slot was very pleased with his players, saying that Robertson’s mistake and sending off came from him staying after sustaining an injury in the opening minutes.
“The character the team showed, that’s what Robbo showed,” Slot said after the 2-2 draw. “If you get a kick like this, two studs on one knee, it can hurt for a few minutes. If you keep running and it gets better and better, that’s what we were hoping for.
“I only had one defender on the bench, who is not a left-back, so you hope he managed to get through it and did quite well.
“But the moment I noticed he wasn’t quite himself was the one time they put the ball in behind and he started running and could just turn back to Ali (Alisson Becker).
“I felt ‘Hmm, OK, let’s see how this goes’ and I think it was quite soon after that he conceded the red card.
“Nothing to blame him, the character showed he wanted to continue because he took a pretty hard hit with two studs. Unfortunately it led to a well-deserved red card.”
Slot added: “I think it’s the exact opposite from Girona (Champions League win in midweek) where I was happy but not the performance.
“Here I’m very happy with the performance, I couldn’t have asked for more, but of course not with the result because if you drop points in a home game against Fulham, it’s definitely not what you expect and what you want.
“But yeah, to be a goal down twice everything goes against you, except for one thing, which is our players and our fans, I thought we were outstanding.”
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