'It was no penalty' says Aston Villa keeper Brad Guzan
Brad Guzan today refused to brand Luis Suarez a cheat – but revealed even the striker was surprised he won his controversial penalty.
The Villa keeper reckons he did not foul the forward as Liverpool rescued a point at Anfield.
Suarez went down under minimal contact from Guzan to allow Steven Gerrard to score as the hosts came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 on Saturday.
The Uruguayan striker has been accused of diving and, while Guzan stopped short of condemning Suarez, he insisted the hitman didn't know if he had been fouled.
He said: "I think Suarez was probably a bit surprised as well to see it given. But these decisions happen and you have to get on with it.
"I was pretty confident in myself I hadn't touched him so I said to him 'did I touch you?' He said: 'I don't know.' That's the honest truth of it.
"Sometimes they go for you and sometimes they don't. Unfortunately for us it didn't.
"I thought at the time that I'd pulled my hands back and, having seen it again on TV, I don't think I made contact with him.
"Whether the referee saw that I'm not sure. I don't know where his position was, but from my point of view it was a soft penalty."
And Ron Vlaar insisted referee Jon Moss was not to blame but said the official still made a mistake.
He said: "I was behind Brad and I didn't think it was a penalty. We have all seen it back. It's a difficult decision from the referee. It's a hard decision and he gave it.
"It was unlucky for us and he has to make a decision in one second and it's not easy. It's unlucky for us but it's happened. It doesn't change the way we look at the way we played.
"I asked the referee in the game and he made his decision. He was sure and he tried to be honest. Everyone makes mistakes and it's not easy. It's unlucky for us because it wasn't a penalty but he cannot change it."
The penalty overshadowed Villa's best performance of the season as Andi Weimann and Christian Benteke put the claret and blues 2-0 up.
Vlaar added: "When you go there and you know you are going to get a point you're going to be happy but if we look back at the game we deserved a win.
"We played really well, especially in the first half, and had a lot of good chances. It's too bad we couldn't score more."
