Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have no doubt Robert Sanchez should have been sent off for Brighton after clattering into Liverpool forward Luis Diaz during Saturday afternoon's Premier League clash.
The Reds won 2-0 at the Amex thanks to goals from Diaz and Mohamed Salah but the former was fortunate to escape injury in the process of giving his side the lead in the 19th minute.
The Colombian winger met Joel Matip's pinpoint floated pass to head beyond Sanchez before the Seagulls goalkeeper made heavy contact with him off the ground.
Fortunately for Liverpool, Diaz was able to continue and they secured all three points after Salah doubled the lead from the penalty spot in the second half.
But debate will continue to rage over whether Sanchez should have been shown a red card for his reckless challenge.
Did Robert Sanchez deserve a straight red card for his challenge on Luis Diaz? Have your say in the comments...
Stuart Attwell on VAR chose not to summon referee Mike Dean to the pitchside monitor in a decision which divided opinion among pundits and fans on social media.
Neville took to Twitter to give his verdict on the incident, simply writing: "Got to be a red card!"
His long-time colleague Carragher echoed these thoughts with a tweet of his own claiming Sanchez only escaped dismissal because Diaz found the back of the net.
"I'm convinced the red card wasn't given because it was a goal," the former Liverpool defender wrote. "That header goes past the post and it's a red card. It's almost like, a goal is enough."
Neville and Carragher's stance was shared by former Anfield favourite Peter Crouch and Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand in the BT Sport studio.
Crouch likened Sanchez's challenge to the ones which left Raul Jimenez and Ryan Mason with serious head injuries.
He said: "If you ever want to see serious foul play, that's it. He (Diaz) could have been seriously, seriously injured."
Ferdinand added: "Anywhere else on the pitch, any other player that does that, it's a sending off. It's WWE, that. 100 per cent a red card."
Diaz would go on to scoop the man of the match award after another brilliant display following his £50million transfer from Porto during the January window.
Carragher is among those to have been wowed by the technically-gifted forward and poked fun at Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy in a second tweet.
"Luis Diaz's impact could turn this season into a special one for Liverpool," he added. "The club only signed him in January because Spurs made an offer, thanks Daniel!"
