Diogo Jota’s wife Rute Cardoso has hit out at Premier League officials for ‘rigging’ Saturday’s game between Liverpool and Tottenham.
Cardoso was furious at referee Simon Hooper and the PGMOL for sending Jota off just 24 minutes after he had come on against Spurs, who won a controversial encounter 2-1 thanks to Joel Matip’s own goal deep into stoppage time.
She was also irritated by the red card shown to Curtis Jones and the fact Liverpool were denied an obvious goal after Luis Diaz was adjudged to be offside.
Cardoso took to social media to call out Hooper and the PGMOL for their decision-making on Saturday.
She shared a video of Jota’s first foul on Destiny Udogie with a clown emoji and the PGMOL’s statement with the words ‘rigged game’ crossed out.
Diogo Jota ‘s wife Rute Cardoso (pictured above) has hit out at Premier League officials for ‘rigging’ Saturday night’s game between Liverpool and Tottenham
She shared a video of Jota’s foul on Destiny Udogie with a clown emoji (left) and the PGMOL’s statement with the words ‘rigged game’ crossed out (right)
Jota was shown his first yellow card in the 68 minute of the game after tripping Udogie up from behind as he looked to stop Spurs from countering.
However, in the replays it seems as though Udogie managed to trip himself up after feeling the pressure from the Portuguese forward – something Cardoso highlighted.
Nevertheless, the yellow card stood and Jota was forced to play on despite his objecting to Hooper’s on-field decision.
But, things went from bad to worse for Jota in the 69 minute of the game when he was shown a second yellow card.
The 26-year-old was dispossessed by Udogie on the right-hand-side and tried to win it back by dangling his leg out.
However, the Liverpool star clipped the Italian and forced Hooper to reach for his pocket to pull out a second yellow card.
Liverpool were also denied an obvious goal after Diaz was adjudged to be offside – something which the PGMOL have no admitted was wrong.
A statement from the PGMOL said: ‘PGMOL can confirm the following match official appointment changes for the remaining fixtures in matchround seven in the Premier League.
Jota was shown his first yellow card in the 68 minute of the game after tripping Udogie up from behind as he looked to stop Spurs from countering
But, things went from bad to worse for Jota in the 69 minute of the game when he was shown a second yellow card and subsequent red card
‘Darren England, VAR on the Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool fixture, and Dan Cook, AVAR on the same game, have been replaced for the Nottingham Forest v Brentford and Fulham v Chelsea matches today and tomorrow night respectively.
‘Craig Pawson will now assume England’s duties as fourth official at the City Ground while Eddie Smart will take over from Cook as assistant referee at Craven Cottage.’
While Liverpool replied with the following statement: ‘Liverpool Football Club acknowledges PGMOL’s admission of their failures last night. It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.
‘We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR.
‘It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.
‘That such failings have already been categorised as ‘significant human error’ is also unacceptable. Any and all outcomes should be established only by the review and with full transparency.
‘This is vital for the reliability of future decision making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again.
‘In the meantime, we will explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution.’
Liverpool were denied an obvious goal after Luis Diaz was adjudged to be offside
Cardoso has 36.3k followers on Instagram, where she vented her frustrations at the officials
