Liverpool boss Arne Slot refuted the suggestion that refereeing decisions even themselves out over the course of the season after Lucas Bergvall scored a controversial late winner in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against his team.

Slot and his team felt that Bergvall should have been shown a second yellow card for a tackle on Kostas Tsimikas just a couple of minutes before he beat Alisson Becker with a low shot into the corner. The Spurs midfielder, Liverpool felt, shouldn't have been on the field to net the winner.

"I think I saw Ange sitting here unhappy on Sunday," Slot said during his post-match press conference. "People say these decisions even out. I don't agree with that but today a decision went for them. Very unlucky for us. I never thought we were going to lose this game."

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On the historic in-game VAR announcement from Stuart Attwell, Slot simply added: "It would be more interesting for everyone if he explained why there wasn't a second yellow card."

Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou also had his say on the refereeing decisions with a VAR trial taking place that saw the on-field referee announce to the crowd why he had chalked off a Dominic Solanke goal. Over the PA system, Attwell explained that it was offside in a first at the top level of the English game.

"I'm really surprised by how people in this country have let their game be changed," Postecoglou said. "It's been changed so much by VAR. We never used to discuss handling in the box, offside... Did everyone really enjoy the announcement, did it give you a buzz?"

Liverpool.com says: Bergvall could certainly have been sent off but Liverpool simply didn't play well enough. Fortunately, there is a second leg to turn things around, but the Reds will need to play much better than this. Too many players were not at their best on the night, which gave Tottenham hope. From the 6-3 a couple of weeks ago to just one goal here, it was a complete turnaround.