James Tarkowski's wife has revealed the shocking death threats her husband has faced following his controversial involvement in the Merseyside derby.
A goal from Diogo Jota shortly before the hour mark secured Liverpool's 1-0 win over local rivals Everton in the Merseyside derby at Anfield on Wednesday evening.
While Jota's goal ultimately decided the result, the biggest moment in the match came earlier as Toffees defender Tarkowski surprisingly avoided a red card following a horror tackle on Alexis Mac Allister.
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The challenge led to significant outrage both within Anfield and online, but some fans have taken things too far as the Everton star's wife has revealed that death threats have been sent in the wake of the match.
Early in the match, Tarkowski left Mac Allister writhing in pain after a blocked shot from Jota led to the ball falling at the midfielder's feet at the edge of the box for just moments before the Everton defender's brutal tackle.
Match referee Sam Barrott and VAR official Paul Tierney decided only to issue a yellow card over the incident, leading to some of Liverpool them unfairly directing their anger at Tarkowski's family with disgusting death threats.
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Posing on her Instagram story, the defender's wife Samantha shared a direct message from a Liverpool fan saying: "Hope ur husband dies."
Captioning the story, the personal trainer called out the fan, writing: "Pathetic Jef hun."
Samantha has previously spoken out about her struggles of being in the public eye after marrying a footballer, and how it has impacted her mental health.
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Speaking in the Married to the Game series on Amazon prime, she said: “Everyone seems to think a footballer has to be with a very stereotypical, super skinny, really glamorous, gorgeous woman, whereas actually he's just my husband, he's just James to me. I don't think of him as a footballer at all.
“I'd like to think people's perception of me isn't a thing to me, but it is. I want to be liked, I put a lot of pressure on myself fitness wise, body wise, because I want people to think, ‘Yeah, she looks good, I'd like to look like that’.
Ben McCrum