Liverpool fans were left fuming at Virgil van Dijk’s one match ban and £100,000 fine after recalling an incident where a linesman ‘elbowed’ Andy Robertson.
Van Dijk was sent off in a Premier League fixture against Newcastle United on August 27 after fouling Alexander Isak on the edge of the box.
The Dutch defender reacted to his straight red card by giving referee John Brooks an earful and refusing to leave the pitch. The 32-year-old was charged by the FA on Friday of aiming “abusive and/or insulting words” at Brooks.
That means Van Dijk will now have to serve another one-match ban in addition to a hefty fine, having missed the 3-0 win over Aston Villa due to his original suspension.
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Yet the Reds faithful have been left dissatisfied with the verdict, as they pointed out that punishments issued by the FA don’t often carry the same weight. They took to Twitter to bring up an incident from last season in which assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis appeared to elbow Liverpool left-back Robertson in the face.
Robertson approached Hatzidakis at half-time of Liverpool's 2-2 draw with Arsenal on April 9 and put his hand on the linesman, who shrugged it off with an elbow to the Scot’s chin. The FA decided to take no further action due to Hatzidakis apologising directly to the Scotland captain in the aftermath.
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One angry Liverpool fan tweeted: “£100K fine for saying ‘f***ing joke” but it’s fine to elbow players in the face,” while another wrote “A lino can elbow Robertson in the face (it’s on tape) and nothing happens.”
A third added: “Lino elbows one of our players and an apology behind the scenes. Nothing to see there. All need binning. Corrupt and incompetent the lot of them plus the FA too.”
And a fourth fumed: “Can they retrospectively make that lino pay 100k for the elbow?”
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Fans were also left baffled at the extent of the fine dished out to Van Dijk by the governing body, especially when compared to other more serious cases in the past.
One supporter brought up the fact Championship side Millwall were only fined £10,000 in 2019 after their fans made racist chants at a match.
Another Twitter user raged while recalling an incident involving Bruno Fernandes last season, where the Manchester United captain pushed a linesman against Liverpool, but escaped any punishment.
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