The captain said: “From my point of view on the field (in front of Mama and Salah), it was not a penalty – and now I’ve seen the image after the game, for me – it was clear, it was not a penalty. But I want to say – Michael Oliver is one of the best in the country. They’re human beings, and they make mistakes sometimes. In his opinion he did the right thing. As players, we have to respect the referee. We are not a team who will cry over that penalty, we just carry on.”
And the Eagles captain was full of praise for his team-mates after a gutsy performance at Selhurst Park. He said: “For sure, I can be proud of my team. We tried until the end, and had some good chances. We played well in my opinion, and in the end maybe we didn’t deserve to lose the game.
“Liverpool are a team who played in the Champions League final, and are favourites to take the Premier League this season. Our fans should be proud of our performance. In a few weeks, no one will remember our performance – that’s football. For sure it hurts us because I think we deserve more, but from tomorrow, we prepare again. This is behind us.”
Luka will lead his side to Watford on Sunday, but Roy Hodgson will be without Aaron Wan-Bissaka, whose last ditch trip of Mohamed Salah led to a red card. Speaking of Aaron, who has received rave reviews recently, he said: “He tried to do the best for the team, he tried to cut the counter attack. In this level of football, if you’re late one second – it’s possible to get a red card. He played a good game.”
For more post-match reaction, head to Palace TV on eagles.cpfc.co.uk or on the official club app.