Ibrahima Konate’s No Red Card on Bradley Barcola Challenge Leaves Expert Confused | OneFootball

Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool are scoreless after the first 45 minutes. The Parisians scored to take a 1-0 lead, but after a VAR review, that goal was taken off due to offside.

Nonetheless, the problematic play in the first half came when Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate challenged Bradley Barcola. The play went to VAR to determine whether there was a potential red card for denying a goal-scoring opportunity, but after the review, the referee stated to play on.

With any controversial play, there will be opinions on whether VAR got the decision correct. Nonetheless, for French-based broadcaster Matt Spiro, Liverpool caught a break with Konaté not being called for a foul on the challenge and being shown a red card.

“PSG totally outplayed Liverpool in that first half,” Spiro wrote on X. “Dembele & Kvara superb, Vitinha orchestrating brilliantly as ever… Barcola a big threat, but end product hasn’t been there from him. That said, not sure how Konaté survived the foul on him.”

Another highlight moment in the first half came Ousmane Dembele. The 27-year-old is already turning into a headache for the Reds’ defense as the PSG attacker had an impressive dribble to get past not one but two Liverpool players.

It will be interesting to see if the forward can continue this play over the two legs against the Reds.