Why Alexander Isak was told to leave the pitch by the referee during Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid despite not having received a booking

Alexander Isak had to briefly leave the field during Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid.

The Swedish sensation was furious with the decision made by the referee at Anfield.

Alexander Isak told to leave the pitch after going down against Atletico Madrid

Tonight, Liverpool had every intention of reminding Atletico Madrid why fans around the world consider their stadium one of the most intimidating to travel to in all of world football.

However, it didn’t take long for Atletico Madrid to show that they weren’t remotely overawed about playing in Merseyside, with Marcos Llorente hitting the back of the net after just 17 minutes.

However, a one-goal buffer was unlikely to be enough, with Dominik Szoboszlai finding the equaliser, before Alexis Mac Allister put ‘The Reds’ ahead.

But none of the goals provided the biggest talking point of the match. In a strange moment, Cristian Romero flew in on Alexander Isak with a crunching challenge, which sent the flashy player hurtling towards the floor.

Consequently, the referee demanded that he leave the pitch for one minute, leaving Isak seemingly shouting back, ‘Why?’ He then headed towards his the sideline with a look of disgust on his face.

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According to IFAB rules:

• An outfield player is required to leave the field of play for one minute after the restart in the event of one or more of the following:
  • play is stopped because the player has an actual or suspected injury
  • the referee has signalled for the medical staff to enter the field of play
  • the referee has asked the player if they require on-field medical attention and the player has requested it
• The medical staff should be given sufficient time to carry out an initial assessment on the field but should not treat the player on the field unless it is a serious injury.
• After any initial assessment, the player must leave the field of play (except as outlined below) and remain off it until play has restarted and one minute has elapsed (running clock).

Steven Gerrard fumes over Alexander Isak having to leave the pitch

Ally McCoist was not pleased with what happened. During the TNT Sports broadcast, he raged: “It’s absolute nonsense. Tell me the logic in that. He’s just been kicked, the referee hasn’t given a free kick, and now he’s got to go off.”

Darren Fletcher replied: “The mad thing is that the player who’s done it, gets a yellow card; he doesn’t have to go off. Whoever came up with that, it’s not for me.”

Moments later, Lee-Kang-in went down holding his head in his hands, despite Szoboszlai seemingly missing his face by a distance.

Steven Gerrard fumed: “Why doesn’t he have to go off the pitch now? What’s the difference?”

Fletcher answered: “He didn’t have treatment.”

Firing back, the former Liverpool star complained: “Neither did Isak,” prompting Fletcher to concede: “He shouldn’t have to then, should he?”

Featured Image Credit: Getty