Mohamed Salah Produced Even Worse Dive After ‘Soft’ Penalty Vs Manchester City

Mohamed Salah has been accused of a blatant dive against Manchester City, even after he earned a supposedly soft penalty in Liverpool's 4-1 defeat.

For the penalty, Salah's arm was tugged by Ruben Dias as he ran into the City area at Anfield on Sunday. He earned - and converted - a spot-kick to briefly level the scores.

While it looked a penalty by the letter of the law, many fans criticised Salah's reaction in theatrically falling to the floor, claiming it was both a foul and a dive. But a later Salah tumble looked even more dubious.

Shortly after his penalty, with the scores at 1-1, Salah leapt for a header in the centre circle. Oleksandr Zinchenko ran up behind him and Salah - either anticipating contact or feeling an arm against his back - flung himself to the floor with his arms in the air (video below).

Referee Michael Oliver chose not to give a foul and Liverpool's No 11 quickly got back up to his feet.

A minor incident but given the penalty and Salah's reputation (deserved or otherwise) for going to ground too easily, football fans on Reddit were quick to pile in.

The video, posted under the title "Mohammed Salah Fallon d'Floor nomination in the middle of the pitch against Man City," received a host of comments.

"Throws his hands up and lifts his legs, every time. Made me cringe," said one football fan.

"It's hard to see but he tripped over long grass and then was pushed over by the wind," claimed another. A third supporter replied: "The way his feet fly out from under him, LMAO. Embarrassing."

One Liverpool fan offered a counterargument, explaining: "I understand the hate against diving and such and sometimes he [Salah] goes over the top, but if he doesn't go to the ground, the initial contact won't be punished."

Does Salah have to go to ground in order to draw fouls to the attention of the referee in charge, as he did for the penalty against Manchester City? Or is he guilty of regular diving?

Let us know in the comments.

Topics: Manchester City, Liverpool, Football News, Football, Premier League, Mohamed Salah

Alex Reid

Alex Reid is a writer at SPORTbible who’s previously strung words together for FourFourTwo, Boxing News, The Guardian and, yes, Cruise International (it’s about big ships, not Tom). Interests range from football and boxing to real sports like WWE and darts. He is not a cage fighter.

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