04 March 2024 , 00:44
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Former Premier League referee Mike Dean has admitted Paul Tierney made a "monumental error" in the build-up to Liverpool's controversial winning goal against Nottingham Forest.
Darwin Nunez scored in the ninth minute of added time to earn the Reds a hugely important 1-0 win in the title race, while Forest were denied a point in their battle to avoid relegation. However, Dean has explained that Tierney wrongly gave the ball to Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher ahead of Nunez's goal.
Tierney stopped play while Forest winger Callum Hudson-Odoi had the ball after Ibrahima Konate went down with a head injury and then did not give possession back to Forest, with Liverpool eventually going on to score the winning goal.
"Obviously Nottingham Forest are upset, I would have been upset if I was involved with Nottingham Forest as well, but unfortunately for the referee he's made a monumental error," Dean told Sky Sports.
"I think he'll know this morning that he's made a mistake and hopefully he can rectify that in the future. Unfortunately for Paul it is a mistake and it's a bad one as well, it obviously leads to a goal eventually.
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"The law states that whoever has the ball when the play does stop, the ball goes back to them. Hudson-Odoi clearly had the ball and the ball and the ball should have been dropped to Nottingham Forest on the wing.
"I know they went and scored Liverpool, it wasn't directly from the drop ball, it's close enough two minutes afterwards so it's a big timescale in between." However, Dean also criticised Forest's reaction to the decision, which saw owner Evangelos Marinakis confront Tierney in the tunnel after the game finished.
Dean feels referee Paul Tierney made a "monumental error" (2024 Allstar)"The whistle went maybe a second too late for Paul, it should have gone back to Forest and then it's just one of those things that transpires," Dean added. "It gets dropped to Liverpool wrongly, they go and score some two minutes later after a throw-in and a chance to clear by Forest.
"It's a mistake, we all know it's a mistake, it does need somebody to come out straight after the game and say it's a mistake. The chairman was on the pitch, we don't want to see things like that happening.
"We saw what happened in Turkey a couple of months ago where a referee got assaulted. We don't need scenes like that after the game."
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