Trent Alexander-Arnold took aim at a Tottenham ball boy during Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
Lucas Bergvall’s goal in the 86th minute sealed the win for Ange Postecoglou’s side in the first leg of their semi final against the Premier League leaders.
Liverpool were furious that Bergvall was still on the pitch after he escaped a second yellow card for bringing down Kostas Tsimikas earlier in the second half.
Alexander-Arnold, meanwhile, was brought on as a substitute in the second half and came close to opening the scoring with a superb low strike which was blocked on the line by Radu Dragusin.
The Liverpool right-back was then involved in a brief spat with a Spurs ball boy during the celebrations for Bergvall’s winner.
In an attempt to quickly restart play, Alexander-Arnold walked over to a ball which was placed on a cone by the side of the pitch but it was removed by the ball boy as the Liverpool defender approached.
The England international then kicked the cone away from the side of the pitch and began to exchange words with the ball boy as he walked back towards his position.
But as he walked away, Alexander-Arnold held up six fingers in the ball boy’s direction in an apparent reference to Liverpool’s 6-3 win against Spurs in the Premier League last month.
Speaking after Liverpool’s defeat, Arne Slot was adamant that Bergvall should have seen red for his challenge on Tsimikas.
‘I don’t think there is any debate about that,’ Slot said.
‘They say he didn’t stop the counter-attack. I think every manager would prefer if the tackle being made now 40 yards away from our goalkeeper, I don’t think you really stop a counter-attack then, every manager would prefer to get a second yellow card for the other team than to finish that counter-attack with a player less to play that counter-attack with.
‘If that is not a discussion then the next discussion is if it was reckless enough, just give advantage, then just come back and say, ‘yeah, I thought the tackle was still too reckless.’ So they still have to give a yellow.
‘In the VAR decision, he had to tell everyone what his decision was and unfortunately he didn’t have to do this with this decision. Things happen, very unlucky for us.
‘The good thing for us is that if you ever have to lose a game, it’s better that you lose one when there is still a second leg to be played. [It’s a] far from ideal starting position for us because they have a really good team, probably some players come back for the second leg.
‘So, far from ideal to lose here but if I ever have to lose, I prefer to lose if there’s still a leg to be played. Then it would’ve been only this game.’
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