Liverpool's Diogo Jota incorrectly sent off against Tottenham – Premier League panel

Liverpool's Diogo Jota is shown the red card against Tottenham in the Premier League in September 2023.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Liverpool's Diogo Jota should not have been sent off in last Saturday's controversial Premier League clash against Tottenham in north London, a Premier League panel has said.

Jota saw red after picking up two yellow cards in quick succession in the second half, both for challenges on Spurs left-back Destiny Udogie.

The Portuguese winger's dismissal saw the Reds reduced to nine men after Curtis Jones was also sent off in the first half and despite a brave rearguard action in the latter stages of the game, Spurs sealed a dramatic late win as Joel Matip scored an own goal in the sixth minute of added time.

All the talk since the game has been around the VAR mistake which saw Liverpool's Luis Diaz denied a perfectly good goal in the first half, but manager Jurgen Klopp spoke about Jota's red card in his post-match press conference.

In it, the Reds boss said he thought the first card should not have been given as he spoke of 'crazy' and 'unfair' decisions at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

But now, ESPN have revealed that the Premier League's Independent Key Match Incidents Panel has ruled that Jota's second challenge did not merit a card either.

"The majority deemed the decision as incorrect as they felt it did not meet the threshold for a yellow card," the report said, revealing that the five members had voted 3-2 against a booking.

Premier League's Independent Key Match Incidents Panel is made up of five members, featuring three former players or coaches, in addition to one representative each from the Premier League and PGMOL.

More Tottenham-Liverpool stories

Tottenham vs Liverpool: why was Luis Diaz's goal wrongly disallowed by VAR?

Reds boss Jurgen Klopp blasts 'unfair' and 'crazy' decisions in Saturday's Premier League clash, while Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou admits he is not a fan of VAR.

And Klopp has suggested that the only fair outcome would be to replay the game against Spurs.

Ben Hayward
Weekend editor

Ben Hayward is a European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.