Should Liverpool’s Naby Keita have won a penalty against Leicester?

As Naby Keita strode into the Leicester penalty area in the second half of his side’s Premier League clash against Leicester, Ricardo Pereira’s desperately tried to put pressure on the ex-RB Leipzig midfielder. After hurtling back into position to defuse a dangerous situation that denied Xherdan Shaqiri an opportunity to test Kasper Schmeichel in the first half, he looked to aid his goalkeeper once more.

In doing so, the Portuguese right back shunted into Keita, making contact with the Liverpool midfielder’s standing leg as he looked to shoot from close range. With a good view, referee Martin Atkinson waved away the home side’s claims, instead pointing for a goal kick – possibly due to Keita taking a poor prior touch which took the ball a little beyond his control.

There was certainly contact on Keita, as Pereira careered into his man to try and put him off his shot, with the two players’ legs colliding. Given that the Guinean was travelling at pace and definitely on the stretch, however, the ball certainly wasn’t tightly under his spell and there could be the argument that Pereira was merely using his body strength to his advantage after using his pace to recover smartly.

There are definitely claims to be made for and against.

The reaction

Some fans didn’t feel too much in the way of empathy for Liverpool.

Surprisingly I have very little sympathy for Liverpool being refused that penalty on Keita. pic.twitter.com/P5naffUYKr

— Stuart (@stuartellis24) January 30, 2019

Liverpool fans, unsurprisingly, were in a less positive mood.

Everyone complaining about Keïta but I think he did very solid for someone who doesn’t play. He definitely got in a position to win us a penalty. Horrible officiating. #LIVLEI

— Anfield Press (@AnfieldPress) January 30, 2019

Awful display from Martin Atkinson so far – should’ve sent Maguire off (who then scores), should’ve blown for h/t when the ball was cleared before Maguire scored, should’ve given a penalty to Keita…the list goes on #LFC

— Corby Ganesh (@Corberama) January 30, 2019

100% penalty. Some poor refereeing decisions tonight, all going against us. #LFC #LIVLEI #Keita pic.twitter.com/ulHNZwKyu6

— LFC Photo (@LFCphoto) January 30, 2019

There was even some room for a conspiracy theory.

– Maguire should’ve seen red
– Clear penalty on Keita
– Ricardo should’ve got 2nd yellow
– Obvious offside decisions missed

Beginning to think @premierleague don’t want Liverpool to win!

— Matt Gibbs (@MrMattGibbs) January 30, 2019