Jordan Henderson inserted himself right into a mid-match scuffle as Ajax’s Europa League conflict towards Union Saint-Gilloise turned ugly.
Ajax required solely a draw to progress to the final 16 after securing a 2-0 win within the first leg of their play-off conflict.
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Boosting the Dutch giants’ likelihood of a consequence was the very fact they’d be roared on by a vociferous dwelling help within the second leg.
Nevertheless, hopes of a simple passage to the following stage of the Europa League took a blow when Kevin Mac Allister, brother of Liverpool star Alexis, put the Belgian facet forward within the sixteenth minute.
Ajax’s job of holding on grew to become much more troublesome simply 9 minutes later when Davy Klaassen was proven a straight purple card for a handball on the purpose line, gifting USG an opportunity to equalise from the spot.
Promise Akinpelu made no mistake along with his penalty as he despatched Ajax goalkeeper Remko Pasveer the improper strategy to stage the tie.
Tensions quickly boiled over early within the second half when Akinpelu fouled Ajax’s Jorthy Mokio.
USG’s Sofiane Boufal was left stunned on the resolution to award a foul and picked up the ball, just for Anton Gaaei to try to snatch it from his fingers.
Gaaei then pushed his head into Boufal’s chest as the 2 briefly grappled.
The scuffle then moved in entrance of the benches as gamers from each side rushed over.
Henderson, who started the sport on the bench, moved within the route of Boufal however was forcefully shoved again by a USG member.
A clip of Henderson gesturing along with his hand as if to say his rivals talked an excessive amount of was quickly proven.
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Referee Chris Kavanagh, who’s a Premier League official, brandished yellow playing cards for Gaaei, Boufal and former Portsmouth defender Christian Burgess – now at USG – for his or her respective roles within the fracas.
Henderson, who was on the bench through the incident, additionally went into Kavanagh’s ebook.
It was the 34-year-old’s seventh yellow of the season and second of Ajax’s Europa League marketing campaign.
Regardless of being on a reserving, Ajax boss Francesco Farioli introduced on Henderson firstly of additional time to assist his facet discover a winner.
Fortunately for the hosts they didn’t want to attend lengthy as Kenneth Taylor scored from the spot within the 93rd minute following a handball from Burgess to place the Dutch giants 3-2 up on combination.
Regardless of the guests’ finest efforts, they have been unable to discover a third on the evening towards a 10-man Ajax as they celebrated a spot within the spherical of 16.
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Sadly for Henderson, it wasn’t his first unfavourable encounter with Kavanagh.
Kavanagh was within the crosshairs of former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp as he controversially awarded a penalty throughout a Merseyside derby encounter at Anfield in February 2021, a sport wherein Henderson crammed in at centre-back as a result of an damage disaster.
Everton prevailed 2-0 due to targets from Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson to make it 4 successive dwelling defeats for the Reds within the 2020/21 season.
It additionally marked the Toffees’ first derby win at Anfield since September 1999.
Sigurdsson’s purpose got here from the penalty spot after Dominic Calvert-Lewin went down within the field when colliding with Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Kavanagh was requested to evaluation the incident by way of the pitchside monitor, however Klopp was not glad on the velocity at which he operated at.
“I actually suppose it’s unfair to ask me as everybody has requested me that query, which suggests everybody thought it wasn’t a penalty,” Klopp mentioned.
“I needed to speak to the ref after my first few interviews however they left already. I needed to ask what did he see?
“If he’s referred to as over there have to be doubt however he wanted solely a second. He went over, watched it from three or 4 yards and ‘penalty.'”