Former Liverpool player Ryan Babel has taken to social media to mock referee Simon Hooper following Luis Diaz’s controversial disallowed goal against Tottenham.
The Colombian had the ball in the back of the net as he thought he gave Liverpool the lead in the first half.
However, the flag was up for offside and after a short VAR check, it was confirmed to be the correct decision.
Despite this, replays showed that Diaz was in fact onside and this led to a PGMOL statement confirming that there was ‘human error in the decision’.
Alongside this, Hooper dismissed both Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota as Liverpool finished the match with nine-men.
Ryan Babel has taken to social media to mock referee Simon Hooper after the Spurs clash
The former Liverpool winger posted a picture of Hooper in a Tottenham kit after the game
Babel faced an FA probe in 2011 for posting a picture of Howard Webb in a Man United kit
This did not go down well with Liverpool fans, and boss Jurgen Klopp, and now a former player has weighed in on the controversy.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Babel mocked referee Hooper for the decision.
‘Players of LFC should be allowed to post this picture tho…’ he said, while posting a picture of Hooper in a Tottenham kit.
This is not the first time that Babel has criticised a referee on social media, as he faced an FA probe back in 2011 for posting a similar picture of Howard Webb in a Man United kit.
Babel posted a picture of Webb in a Manchester United kit on Twitter, captioned: ‘And they call him one of the best referees? That’s a joke. SMH.’
And over a decade later, Babel attacked a referee for his performance against Liverpool once again.
This comes after Klopp fumed at the decision in his post-match press conference, stating: ‘Nobody expects 100 per cent right decisions on field. I think we all thought when VAR came in, it might make things easier.
‘I don’t know why people are acting under that much pressure. Today the decision was made really quickly for the goal. It changed the momentum of the game.’
It remains to be seen as to whether Liverpool will be issued a formal apology after the statement on Saturday.
