The red card that changed everything

Steven Gerrard has come out swinging in defence of Ryan Gravenberch, calling the first yellow card shown to the Liverpool midfielder against Manchester City "an embarrassment from the referee" and revealing that even ProRef chief Howard Webb's reaction suggested the official knew he'd made a mess of it. Gravenberch was dismissed in the second half after a challenge on Jeremy Doku, having already been booked for a foul on Elliot Anderson earlier in the match.

At the time of the red card the scoreline was still level at 0-0, but the numerical disadvantage proved decisive. City capitalised ruthlessly, with Erling Haaland, Doku and Rayan Cherki all scoring to hand Enzo Maresca's side a 3-0 victory.

What Gerrard saw from where he was sitting

Speaking on The Overlap, Gerrard said he was sat close enough to Webb to read the room. "I was 10 seats down from Howard Webb and I was looking at him and I knew what he was thinking," he said, "the referee has messed up massively on the first booking." On the second yellow, Gerrard was more measured, accepting it was probably a bookable offence for stopping a counter-attack, but insisting the damage had already been done by a first caution that should never have been shown.

Brentford manager Andoni Iraola, whose side saw all of this unfold in front of them, was equally pointed in his post-match press conference. "I think the first foul of Ryan is never a yellow card... never," Iraola said. "These kinds of games, just a stomp on the big toe, or something minor. He doesn't even call the foul straight away. He lets it go; I think Anderson does a couple of steps. He decides to go down." Virgil van Dijk also voiced his frustration, adding his voice to a growing Liverpool camp that feels badly wronged by the decision.

Gerrard's verdict on Gravenberch himself

For all the controversy around the dismissal, Gerrard was keen to highlight how well Gravenberch had played before it. "He was outstanding. It is the best he has played for some time," the Liverpool legend said, before offering a telling observation on where the Dutchman is best deployed. "He proved to me that he is more of an eight than a six. It suits him more to play with Alexis Mac Allister in there. He has played that deeper role well in the past, but he has too much energy to play there. You have to play to his strengths."

What happens next for Gravenberch

Gravenberch will be available when Liverpool travel to face LASK in the Champions League on Wednesday evening, with kick-off at 5.45pm. The suspension bites on Saturday, though, ruling him out of the Premier League trip to Brentford. Whether the red card gets rescinded on appeal remains to be seen, but given the weight of opinion stacking up against the original decision, Liverpool will surely be looking at every option available to them.