"Rigged", "Battered by a team from France" - Twitter explodes as Liverpool suffer controversial defeat to Toulouse

Liverpool suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to Toulouse in a UEFA Europa League thriller on Thursday (November 9). However, the major talking point regarded a contentious decision not to award the Merseysiders a 90+7th minute equalizer.

It was the Reds who started brightly and Joe Gomez nearly gave them the lead in the third minute. The English defender headed Cody Gakpo's free-kick towards goal but the ball came crashing off the upright.

However, Toulouse took a surprise lead in the 36th minute courtesy of Norweigan winger Aron Donnum. Sloppy play from Konstantinos Tsimikas allowed the Ligue 1 side to pounce and Donnum's attempt took a nick off Jarell Quansah before beating Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.

Jurgen Klopp made several changes at half-time, bringing on the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah. The Reds boss looked to take control of the game having watched his side struggle in the first half.

Yet, the hosts doubled their lead in the 58th minute through Dutch forward Thijs Dallinga. Luis Diaz gave the ball away allowing Toulouse to break and Dallinga finished past Kelleher with aplomb.

Liverpool gave themselves hope in the 73rd minute when Gomez's header across goal took a deflection off Venezualen midfielder Cristian Casseres Jr. The ball flew past Toulouse goalkeeper Guillaume Restes.

However, Carles Martínez Novell's men immediately hit back three minutes later through Frank Magri. The Cameroonian forward was on hand to follow up on Kelleher's initial save from Gabriel Suazo.

Liverpool then gave Toulouse a nervy finish when Diogo Jota netted with a fine strike in the 89th minute. It would lead to one of the most dramatic finishes.

Klopp's men pushed for an equalizer and they thought they'd found it in the 90+8th minute. Jarrell Quansah looked to have poked home his first goal for his boyhood club but VAR controversy soon took hold.

Bulgarian referee Georgi Kabakov looked indecisive as Toulouse players protested against the goal. They argued that Alexis Mac Allister had handled the ball before the ball was delivered into the box for Quansah's finish.

Kabakov handed out several bookings to Toulouse players but appeared to point to the center spot to award the goal. He then backtracked and ran to the pitchside monitor before ruling the goal out for Mac Allister's handball. There were several plays before the goal took place.

The Reds had already sealed their place in the knockout stages of the Europa League but could have done so by winning their group tonight. They were denied a draw in the most controversial fashion.

One fan insisted the Anfield giants deserved to lose:

"Imagine getting battered by a team from France on a European night. Liverpool are the biggest disgrace to English Football. 12 minutes of added time and still couldn’t do nothing against Toulouse. Shame"

Another fan vented his frustrations with yet more VAR controversy coming into effect:

"Rigged. When is this going to stop?! VAR has now cost us 2 matches this season on bad calls."

Here's how fans on X (formerly Twitter) reacted to a remarkable win for Les Violets over Klopp's Merseysiders:

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Steve McManaman bemused by the decision to rule out Liverpool's equalizer

Former Reds midfielder Steve McManaman was on commentary for TNT Sports during the game. He slammed referee Kabakov for not awarding the visitors the last-gasp equalizer (via The Daily Mail):

"This was seven or eight movements before the goal even happened. He’s given handball! What on earth. Talking about re-reffing the game. That happened… I’m astonished. Chest onto the arm but then the game carries on and there’s a thousand things that happen after that."

He added:

"Astounded by that. This reffing in Europe has not been seen in its greatest light over these last couple of days at all."

Liverpool's arch-rivals Manchester United were similarly on the receiving end of questionable VAR decisions on Wednesday (November 8). There are question marks over whether the technology is actually benefitting the game.