Michael Oliver admits regret in handling of Jordan Pickford challenge on Virgil van Dijk which left Liverpool talisman injured of the season

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Michael Oliver has admitted he should have shown Jordan Pickford a red card for his challenge on Virgil van Dijk during the Merseyside derby in October.

Pickford avoided a red card for his first half clash with Liverpool defender Van Dijk, with refereeing board PGMOL later explaining it was subjectively decided the Everton goalkeeper had tried to play the ball.

Michel Oliver was the official in charge at Goodison Park

But he flew in high and scissored his legs across Van Dijk, who crumpled to the ground and may now miss up to EIGHT months with an ACL injury.

The Everton goalkeeper admitted he received death threats in the immediate aftermath of the game at Goodison Park, although Oliver and VAR official David Coote were not exempt from criticism.

Coote agonised over a marginal offside call for more than a minute and subsequently deemed no further action was necessary after confirming the Netherlands captain was in an offside position.

Because of the offside call, it meant Oliver could not award a penalty – but he still could have given a red for the challenge.

Pickford’s reckless challenge has sidelined Van Djik

Although a red card would not have averted the unfortunate injury sustained by the 29-year-old, Oliver acknowledged he could have done more.

“The thought initially was ‘it can’t be a penalty because it’s offside so we need to check the offside first,’” Oliver told the Mail Online in a rare interview.

“I think I said to the VAR, ‘if it’s not offside, I’m going to give a penalty.’

“I have watched it back so many times. I genuinely don’t think Pickford has done anything apart from try to spread himself but he did it the wrong way, as the injury has shown.

The game was littered with controversy as the Merseyside derby ended 2-2

“We have all, myself included, not thought about the challenge as much as we should have done.

“We could still have given offside and sent Pickford off.

“What I was surprised about looking at it afterwards was that nothing was expected on-field in terms of a red card. None of the players were asking for that.

“We got sucked too much into going step by step as opposed to thinking of the bigger process, which was considering the challenge as well and not just the fact that it can’t be a penalty.

“We should have restarted with the offside, but with a different punishment for Jordan Pickford.”

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