Punter misses £2,000 payout after Virgil van Dijk…

Punter misses £2,000 payout after Virgil van Dijk yellow card confusion at World Cup

Football fans are calling for clarity from Opta, FIFA and various bookmakers after confusion around a possible yellow card for Virgil van Dijk.

The Liverpool star was involved in the World Cup clash between the Netherlands and Argentina last night, which eventually saw Lionel Messi's side prevail in a 4-3 shootout victory following a 2-2 draw.

More than a dozen bookings were dished out by referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz during the feisty encounter - including for players on the pitch, some on the bench and even Albicelestes boss Lionel Scaloni.

Dutch captain Van Dijk was at the heart of the drama as the clock ticked towards 90 minutes. When Leandro Paredes fouled Nathan Ake and booted the ball towards the opposition dugout, Van Dijk was first on the scene to chest slam the Argentina man into the ground.

A few minutes after the melee had eventually calmed down, an image flashed up on TV broadcasts appearing to suggest Van Dijk was shown a yellow card. BBC commentator Jonathan Pearce said: "That's confirmation of that Van Dijk caution by the way."

Another clip from the match also appears to show Lahoz brandishing a card in Van Dijk's direction once play ended. In the live match blog on GOAL, an entry reads: "Van Dijk is also booked for dissent, right at the end of a game this referee won't reflect on with too much fondness."

While it remains unclear whether Van Dijk was genuinely booked or not, those who backed him to be cautioned are making their case.

One punter contacted the ECHO with an image of his online betting slip (see below). A £5 stake would seemingly have seen him scoop just over £2,000 after predicting bookings for Nicolas Otamendi, Cristian Romero, Lisandro Martinez and Van Dijk.

He said: "I’ve spoken to the bookies and they are saying that Opta Sports (who collect the statistics for them) and the official World Cup are both saying [Van Dijk] wasn’t booked. So the bet is settled correctly.

"They both originally said that he had received a yellow card but did a u-turn after the game had ended. Betting companies have now refused to pay out, I’ve found thousands of people on social media who have had the same problem.

"I don’t see why we can’t see the official referee match report and who he had carded as this would solve this problem, instead of using these third parties."

Several bookmakers have been replying to people on social media with a similar response over the incident and the rules around use of Opta.

In response to a query earlier today, the @bet365 account posted: "Hi, please be advised that as per official OPTA match data, it has been confirmed that Virgil van Dijk did not receive a booking."

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