Wait, What?! Kyle Walker Defends Michael Oliver’s Non-Penalty Decision

Kyle Walker does a bizarre interview on Sky Sports | Sky Sports

It’s worth pointing out how weird this is

If you’re reading this and not just waking up from a coma, you’re probably aware of the contentious non-call in the 99th minute of the Liverpool v Manchester City game on Sunday. Jeremy Doku had completely planted his foot into the chest of Alexis Mac Allister. Match referee Michael Oliver, who was no less than 10 yards away from the incident, decided to swallow his whistle and not make the correct call. And his VAR doubled down. No penalty.

Anyways, for some reason, Manchester City defender Kyle Walker got to go on television Monday afternoon to talk about what a great referee Michael Oliver is.

“My view is the referee and VAR have made a decision,” Walker said in his interview. “I feel the ref reffed it really, really well. I feel once you have the Anfield crowd behind them (Liverpool), he could have crumbled. That shows his experience and that shows his character, and that’s why he’s regarded as one of the best referees in the country and the world at the minute.

“Listen, it’s probably not up to me to say if I do think it’s a pen. If I say it’s not a pen, then it’s headlines and if I say it is a pen, then it’s headlines. The VAR has checked it, the ref has done it, and that’s all I’m going to say on it.”

Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images

You are not taking crazy pills. It is indeed bizarre that a Manchester City defender gets to go on Sky Sports to talk about a contentious penalty decision without scrutiny. It is terrible optics at best.

So, here are the facts. Kyle Walker played over 100 total minutes in Sunday’s match for Manchester City. He is their club captain. Manchester City are owned by Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, or more simply put: a member of the Emirati royal family as well as the Vice President of the United Arab Emirates.

Last October, right after the infamous error that led to Liverpool having a perfectly good goal waved off due to VAR issues, the Athletic reported that PGMOL match officials were flying to the Middle East to referee matches. Michael Oliver was one of the referees doing this, flying to the UAE to officiate matches.

Like I said, if we’re assuming the very best intentions across the board here, the optics are terrible that Sky Sports is having a Manchester City footballer on TV to talk about a referee the UAE has paid money to. Imagine what would happen if Virgil van Dijk went on Sky Sports and gave his opinion about the referee? Actually, you don’t have to imagine. van Dijk was already suspended for an extra game this year for calling a referee “a joke” for his sending off at Newcastle.