Roberto De Zerbi refused to blame Liverpool midfielder Fabinho after he injured Brighton's young striker Evan Ferguson in the FA Cup meeting between the two Premier League sides.
Brazil midfielder Fabinho had come off the bench just moments before going through the back of Ferguson, catching the 18-year-old on his heel. The Liverpool man was immediately shown a yellow card by referee David Coote and VAR checked the foul but opted not to upgrade it to a red.
Ferguson was shown walking down the tunnel after being substituted off for Deniz Undav, and Brighton will hope he isn't missing for too long. The Irish youngster has only completed a full 90 minutes for his club once, but already has four senior goals to his name including an equaliser against Leicester in the Seagulls' last Premier League game.
“We are sorry for him (Ferguson)," the Italian told beIN Sports. "The injury, we don’t know yet, but we will see in the next days and we hope for him and for the club that it will not be so important an injury.
“I think Fabinho is a quality player. It can happen on the pitch, these accidents."
The former Shakhtar Donetsk boss also suggested his team got lucky to progress, suggesting they didn't play as well as in the recent 3-0 Premier League win against the same opposition. " Today Liverpool played a very good, very strong game, but we believe until the end of the game and I think it’s a very good day for us," he said.
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The decision was one of two potential red card offences which upset Brighton in the second half. Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate - booked earlier in the game - was also allowed to continue after a tussle with Alexis Mac Allister as the Argentine bore down on goal, with VAR not even checking the offence.
Former Brighton striker Glenn Murray was on punditry duty on ITV and suggested Fabinho knew he had committed a red card offence. He also described the decision to leave Konate on the pitch as the kind which could have been "match-changing".
It didn't matter, though, with the Seagulls striking late to seal a comeback victory over the FA Cup holders. Lewis Dunk equalised late in the first half after Harvey Elliott had fired Liverpool in front, and Kaoru Mitoma completed the turnaround with a fantastic stoppage-time effort.
Jurgen Klopp's Reds will need a quick response as they look to return to form in the Premier League and Champions League. They have domestic games against Wolves, Everton and Newcastle before resuming their European campaign with a first meeting with Real Madrid since the Spanish champions beat them 1-0 in the 2022 final.
