West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui suffered an unusual setback in his team’s 5-1 Carabao Cup defeat against Liverpool at Anfield, injuring his calf in a moment of frustration over refereeing decisions, Soccernet.football reports.
The Spaniard, who has now overseen four defeats in seven games since taking charge, revealed he hurt himself while venting anger at decisions that he felt went against his side.
The Hammers took the lead through a Jarell Quansah own goal but were unable to maintain control, eventually conceding five as Liverpool turned the game around late in the second half.
Edson Alvarez was sent off shortly after Mohamed Salah scored Liverpool’s third, further compounding West Ham’s collapse.
Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo each scored twice for the Reds, rounding off a frustrating evening for Lopetegui’s men.
Reflecting on the match, Lopetegui voiced his displeasure, particularly with the refereeing decisions that he believed changed the course of the game.
“I prefer not to talk about the referee. It is very clear for me the decisions have been against us and the key decisions,” he said as per RTE. “But in the end, when we had chances to score, we didn’t do it.”
In the midst of West Ham’s late collapse, Lopetegui’s frustration boiled over, leading to his injury.
“I have one little injury in my calf,” he admitted, limping into the post-match press conference.
Despite the scoreline, Lopetegui felt his side had moments where they were the better team, saying, “I don’t think that we deserve this score. I think that we have been in the match, in a lot of moments, even better than them.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s head coach Arne Slot expressed satisfaction with his team’s performance, noting the depth of quality in his squad.
“What we’ve shown in the last weeks and today, again, is that we have many quality players,” Slot said. He praised the contributions of Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo, both of whom were clinical in front of goal.
Lopetegui will hope to quickly recover, both physically and mentally, as West Ham look to bounce back from another tough defeat.