LONDON: Tottenham striker Harry Kane has hit back at Virgil van Dijk’s claim he dived to win a penalty in Sunday’s dramatic 2-2 Premier League draw at Anfield.
Liverpool’s record signing said the England international went down too easily under pressure from goalkeeper Loris Karius for the first of two Spurs penalties.“I think it is a dive. You see him (Kane) diving clearly and no one is talking about it but I think it is a dive,” said Van Dijk, who joined Liverpool from Southampton last month for £75 million ($106 million, 85 million euros).
“He (Karius) has dived, he got in the way and I’m a player. I’m not going to jump out of the way because it’s football,” said Kane, denying Van Dijk’s accusation. “I definitely felt contact and I went down.”
Kane, like manager Mauricio Pochettino, praised the officials for having the strength of character to award two controversial penalties at Liverpool’s home ground.Assistant referee Ed Smart flagged for a Van Dijk foul on Erik Lamela for the second penalty award after match official Jon Moss had waved play on.
“I thought the linesman showed amazing character to give (the second penalty) because a lot happened for the first one about the linesman so to give that penalty was massive — and it was a penalty,” added Kane.
from The News International - Sports http://ift.tt/2BckMXm
