Brendan Rodgers has leapt to the support of Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury following criticism over his tackle on Mohamed Salah earlier this month.
The former Liverpool manager returned to Anfield with Leicester and would’ve left with a point if it wasn’t for James Milner’s 95th-minute penalty to guide the hosts to a 2-1 win.
Choudhury’s crunching challenge on Salah was a major talking point though, forcing the forward to leave the pitch and, despite two weeks’ break in between, miss the trip to Manchester United at the weekend.
Speaking to the Mirror, Rodgers insisted the tackle Jurgen Klopp called ‘dangerous as hell’ wasn’t even a poor one:
The reaction to Hamza was right over the top for me. The boy went in to make a tackle. Mo Salah is a world-class player but you can tackle him. It wasn’t even a bad tackle. You have to ensure they stay aggressive because that is their game, without overstepping the line. If you look at the team we play in an aggressive but sporting way.
READ LIVERPOOL’S VERDICT
Klopp was furious with the decision to let Choudhury off with a yellow and you can’t blame him; the 22-year-old slid in from behind and didn’t even touch the ball.
I’m sure plenty of Liverpool fans and the Reds’ manager will strongly disagree with Rodgers’ claims, but ultimately it could’ve been worse and it’s nothing to dwell on.
Salah returned to action at Genk last night in the Champions League and will be vying to make an impact against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
