• We are bitterly disappointed to concede the penalty — Rodgers.
• However, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insisted the foul was ‘obviously a penalty’.
Image: /REUTERS
It was the 34th time Liverpool have scored a 90th-minute winning goal in a Premier League match — at least nine more than any other side
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers felt Sadio Mane ‘made the most of the contact’ that earned Liverpool a match-winning penalty at Anfield on Saturday.
Mane went down under contact from Marc Albrighton, before James Milner’s spot-kick sealed a 2-1 win that maintains Liverpool’s 100% league record.
“It did not look clear and obvious to me,” said ex-Liverpool boss Rodgers.
Leicester midfielder James Maddison had earlier cancelled out Mane’s opener when he made it 1-1 in the 80th minute.
“We are bitterly disappointed to concede the penalty,” added Rodgers, making his first return to Anfield since being sacked by the Reds in October 2015. “Sadio Mane made the most of the contact. I don’t think if it had not been given by the referee it would have been overturned by VAR [video assistant referee]. When the referee gives decisions it is hard for them to overrule it.”
Maddison, who scored with Leicester’s only shot on target, said the penalty was ‘very soft’, adding: “I don’t think the contact warrants the way Sadio Mane went down.”
However, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insisted the foul was ‘obviously a penalty’.
Liverpool have not dropped points in the Premier League since March. The last time they did so at Anfield was against Leicester in January, and the Foxes were just moments away from repeating that feat here.
Klopp’s side are now on a 17-game winning streak.
“Without luck we cannot win the amount of games we have won, but over the 90 minutes we deserved it,” added Klopp.
Klopp, who replaced Rodgers as Liverpool manager, said Leicester midfielder Hamza Choudhury’s tackle on Mohamed Salah late on was ‘dangerous as hell’.
Choudhury received a yellow card while Salah had treatment on the pitch and was seen limping through the media zone after the match.
“How can he do it? The ball is far away. He has to calm down. This is not the first situation. Super player, but these kind of challenges? No,” said Klopp.
“I don’t need to be a football manager to know this kind of challenge can cause a serious injury. I just need two eyes.”
Asked if Salah had picked up an injury, Klopp told Sky Sports: “How can Mo be OK? How did he [Choudhury] only get a yellow card? Mo limped off the pitch. It was done to slow Mo down and that is not OK.”
Rodgers said Choudhury was an ‘honest boy’, adding: “I don’t think there was anything malicious in it.”