Iraola fumes over Gravenberch red card as 10-man Liverpool fall to City's three-goal blitz

Andoni Iraola was left furious by the refereeing decision that he believes turned a competitive Premier League contest into a one-sided defeat, as 10-man Liverpool were beaten 3-0 by Manchester City after Ryan Gravenberch was sent off for two bookable offences.

The Dutch midfielder received his first yellow card for a challenge on Elliot Anderson shortly after half-time, a decision Iraola immediately disputed. A second booking arrived just over 10 minutes later, and City wasted little time exploiting the numerical advantage — Erling Haaland fired home after Jeremy Doku’s shot was blocked, before Doku curled in a stunning second and Rayan Cherki added a third to complete the rout.

“I think it’s obvious. We’ve played two games today,” Iraola said after the final whistle. “One game until the 60th minute and then another game after the red card. We were the best team in the first game and then they were better.”

The Liverpool head coach was particularly scathing about the challenge that earned Gravenberch his first caution. “The first one is not a yellow. Anderson carries on a couple of steps; he wasn’t even going to give a foul. I’ve no idea why he gives a yellow card. We have like nine players behind the ball. It’s already difficult to press them when it’s 11v11, but with one less, it becomes a different game.”

Speaking separately, Iraola reiterated his frustration. “The first yellow card was just a kick in the toe. It was nothing. It was a normal foul. It was the moment when we were pushing more. The momentum was coming for us and the atmosphere in the stadium was so nice.”

Despite the scoreline, Iraola was keen to highlight the quality of Liverpool’s performance before the dismissal. “We conceded very little in the first half. We did a really good job. The second half, we were translating that into chances. You learn a lot in games like today. I am very proud of my players. They put the work rate and everything in today. It’s a loss and we didn’t get anything from the performance, but I liked it a lot.”