Benitez critical of Alonso ban

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez cannot understand the rules which he feels have wrongly condemned midfielder Xabi Alonso to serve a one-match ban.

Referee Steve Bennett appeared to be facing the other way when Alonso slipped and fell into Arsenal’s Mathieu Flamini in Sunday’s Premiership match at Highbury, earning the 24-year-old a second yellow card and then the red which rules him out of tomorrow’s game against Fulham at Anfield.

Benitez said: "We talked to the supervisor of the referees and he said the referee needs to change his decision and he had said no. What can be done? Maybe it is a question you can put to the supervisor of the referees."

The Reds have no right of appeal for wrongful dismissal where a player is sent off for two yellow cards, and under FIFA guidelines referees and national associations have been ordered not to upgrade or downgrade punishments except in instances of mistaken identity.

The Reds claim to have been told Bennett is sticking to his decision, though clearly Fifa rules state there is nothing he can do even if he did wish to change his mind now.

Benitez added: "For me, the video is really important for disciplinary matters. It can support the referees. To change decisions during the game you will change the spirit of the game. But in this case you are not changing the final score, you are changing a decision that has been a mistake."