What Mike Dean said in instant response to controversial Daniel Munoz goal against Liverpool

Mike Dean was adamant that the officials made the correct decision in allowing Daniel Munoz’s controversial goal to stand in Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.

The Reds were 2-0 to the good when a hugely contentious incident arose in the 71st minute as Freddie Woodman – who’d earlier made two outstanding saves – thwarted Ismaila Sarr one-on-one but caught his knee in the turf in that action.

He immediately went to ground in agony but the play continued and, with the LFC goalkeeper down injured, the Eagles right-back lifted the ball over him and into the net, thus halving the deficit.

Dean insists correct decision was made

Liverpool players and Arne Slot were understandably furious that the goal was allowed to stand, but Dean insisted that the officials were right to give it.

Speaking on Soccer Saturday for Sky Sports, the former top-flight referee declared: “It can’t not be a goal. There’s nothing else you can do… even though Woodman’s injured, he gets back up to try and stop the ball anyway and goes back down. It’s a goal.”

Should the referee have stopped the play?

Liverpool’s ire over that incident was quite understandable, with Munoz taking advantage of Woodman going to ground in clear discomfort.

Palace will argue that, as Dean mentioned, Woodman tried to get back to his feet before immediately collapsing to the turf again, and they’ll also maintain that the onus was on Andy Madley to stop the play.

That the Eagles right-back opted to shoot rather than putting the ball out of play clearly didn’t go down well with the Anfield faithful, with one spectator throwing an object at the Colombian as he prepared to take a throw-in shortly after the goal.

Should Munoz have done the decent thing and not gone for goal, spotting that Woodman was stricken? Should the referee have stopped the play upon noticing that the Liverpool goalkeeper was injured?

The debate will rage on, but thankfully the Reds didn’t let it affect them as they saw off a period of Palace pressure before Florian Wirtz’s stoppage time goal sealed the victory which propelle them into the top four of the Premier League for the first time since January.

You can view the Munoz goal below (from 2:10), via Sky Sports on YouTube:

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