‘Welbeck said it wasn’t a penalty!’ – Henderson fumes at VAR after Liverpool are held by Brighton

The Reds captain was left frustrated at the Amex Stadium, with the defending Premier League champions dropping two points after a late penalty

Jordan Henderson was left fuming at VAR after Liverpool were denied victory at Brighton by a late penalty call, with Seagulls striker Danny Welbeck admitting that a spot-kick award was “soft”.

Jurgen Klopp’s side appeared to have avoided any arguments against technology as they entered stoppage-time at the Amex Stadium.

Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane had seen goals ruled out for offside on the south coast, but in-form Diogo Jota made one opportunity count and had Liverpool on course for a hard-fought win.

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There was, however, to be late drama as Andy Robertson took a wild swing at clearing the ball inside the box and connected with the boot of Seagulls striker Welbeck.

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Play was initially allowed to continue, but referee Stuart Attwell was asked to review the incident on a pitch-side monitor and ended up presenting Pascal Gross with an opportunity to restore parity.

Liverpool captain Henderson was seething at the final whistle, with the England international telling BT Sport: “It was ours. It should be three points, in my opinion.

“I’ve seen the replay. Who would be happy? It’s not a pen. It feels like we’re standing here every week and discussing incidents. I don’t want to get into trouble, but for me it’s not a penalty.

“Danny Welbeck said to me it wasn’t a penalty. There were four or five of them who felt it wasn’t a penalty.

“To overturn it, it has to be clear and obvious. Is that a clear and obvious penalty, to go to the screen and overturn it?

“Obviously the referees know better than us, but I thought the lads were brilliant today and deserve the three points.

“In the first half there were things we could improve on, in the second half we did that.

“We had a couple of goals ruled off for offside. Overall we’ve got to be positive and take the performance out of it, because the result isn’t anything else but an error in my option.

“You’d rather get beat by two or three than end up like that. It feels like two points taken away from us.”

Liverpool had survived an early scare at the Amex, with Neal Maupay firing a penalty for Brighton wide of the post.

He was then forced off through injury, while James Milner and former Reds star Adam Lallana also picked up untimely knocks on a dramatic afternoon.