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Arsenal’s Xhaka ‘lucky not to get red card’ for moment of madness vs Liverpool as Carragher asks ‘what was he THINKING?’


FANS were stunned Granit Xhaka was not shown a red card after a fiery altercation with Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Arsenal went 2-0 up within the first half hour against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.

Granit Xhaka was not awarded a foul as Ibrahima Konate pressured him on the touchline
Xhaka appeared to move his elbow towards Alexander-Arnold
Xhaka then went for Alexander-Arnold after not getting a free-kick
The pair squared up to one anotherCredit: Alamy
They were eventually pulled apart by their team-mates
Both players were booked following the altercation

And tempers began to flare shortly before the break when Ibrahima Konate bundled over Xhaka.

The Swiss midfielder, 30, was not awarded a free-kick after going down under pressure from the Liverpool centre-back.

And when he was not awarded the foul, Xhaka got back to his feet and stormed over to Alexander-Arnold – who had possession of the ball.

He then proceeded to barge the Liverpool full-back with his elbow and squared up to him with his head right in Alexander-Arnold’s face.

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Reacting to the incident, Reds legend Jamie Carragher slammed Xhaka’s actions.

He said: “What was he thinking though? It’s ridiculous.”

And those on social media felt the Arsenal man was lucky to avoid a sending off.

One replied: “Xhaka should have seen the red card.”

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Another responded: “I have only seen one replay but how did Xhaka not just get a red card? He ran up to Trent and threw an elbow in his face? Did anyone else see that?!”

And a third added: “Xhaka looks like he goes to elbow Trent?? Looks like a red card to me.”

The incident seemed to ignite the Anfield crowd as Mo Salah scored just minutes later to bring Liverpool back into the game.

And the atmosphere reached fever pitch in a frantic second half as Salah missed a penalty before the Red eventually netted a last-gasp equaliser through Roberto Firmino in an end-to-end thriller.

And there was controversy off the pitch as Andy Robertson claimed he was ELBOWED by linesman Constantine Hatzidakis.


Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk


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