Late penalty denies Liverpool
Liverpool were frustrated by VAR as Pascal Gross's controversial late penalty rescued a dramatic 1-1 draw for Brighton at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.
Jurgen Klopp's side took the lead through Diogo Jota's second half strike after Brighton's Neal Maupay had missed a penalty in the first half. But Liverpool were stunned in stoppage-time when Andrew Robertson's challenge on Danny Welbeck was ruled a penalty after Stuart Attwell overturned his initial decision.
Gross converted from the spot, leaving Klopp sarcastically applauding the officials at the end of a disappointing week for Liverpool after their shock Champions League defeat at home to Atalanta.
Liverpool went back to the top of the table as a result of their draw, but the champions are just one point ahead of previous leaders Tottenham. Tottenham can regain pole position if they avoid defeat at Chelsea on Sunday, while the Blues will go top if they win.
It was one of those days for Liverpool, who also saw goals correctly disallowed by VAR for offside against Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.
There was more bad news for injury-ravaged Liverpool as James Milner was forced off in the second half. Klopp had claimed it was almost a "crime" that Liverpool had to feature in the early Saturday match after playing in the Champions League just three days earlier.
He made six changes from the Atalanta game and Liverpool should have taken the lead in the opening moments when Fabinho unfurled a perfectly-weighted long pass that picked out Salah's run, but the Egyptian fired wastefully wide from just inside the Brighton area.
With Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez injured and Joel Matip rested, Klopp's makeshift defence were exposed when Maupay's pass sent the unmarked Aaron Connolly racing through on goal. But with just Liverpool 'keeper Alisson Becker to beat, Connolly guided his shot well wide.
During another well-timed incursion from Connolly in the 20th minute, he was tripped in the area by the Neco Williams after he was caught out of position. Maupay stepped up to take the spot-kick, but his side-foot effort went wide.
Liverpool thought they had hit back with a sucker punch when Salah sprinted onto Firmino's pass and scuffed his shot past Brighton keeper Mat Ryan. But VAR curtailed Salah's celebrations as he was ruled offside by the tightest of margins.
In a warning that Brighton failed to heed, Jota turned to flash a shot narrowly wide and in the 60th minute the Portugal forward put Liverpool.
Liverpool were seconds away from three points when Robertson went to clear in his own area as Welbeck closed in. Robertson's foot made contact with Welbeck, but there were few appeals from Brighton before Attwell awarded a contentious penalty after consulting the pitchside monitor.