Liverpool beat Burnley but Jamie Carragher was upset with one player

Former Liverpool defender and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher didn’t mince words after Burnley’s Hannibal Mejbri was involved in the incident that ultimately led to Liverpool’s late winner.

In what many are calling a costly moment of poor decision-making, Carragher described Hannibal’s actions as “brain-dead,” insisting it wasn’t just a mistake but a moment that showed a lack of awareness and sentencing Burnley to defeat.

The controversy came in injury time, following a handball by Hannibal inside the Burnley penalty area. Mohamed Salah stepped up and converted the spot kick, securing a 1–0 win for Liverpool.

The penalty decision followed a cross, with the ball hitting Hannibal’s arm under pressure.

Jamie Carragher was highly critical of Mejbri

Carragher was blunt, this was no accident born out of bad luck, he saw it as a moment of carelessness.

Carragher said that Burnley’s player quite simply “lost control” of his limbs at a critical moment.

‘Burnley don’t deserve that,’ Carragher said on commentary for Sky Sports, as reported by the Daily Mail.

The pundit labelled Hannibal’s decision as ‘brain dead’. ‘It’s a moment of madness! What is he doing?’

Beyond just the handball itself, Carragher took aim at how neither side (Liverpool or Burnley) produced a convincing performance overall.

Liverpool struggled to break down stubborn Burnley

Despite Liverpool dominating possession and registering many attempts, the game lacked sharpness and cohesion until that decisive moment.

For a team that defended with five at the back for much of the game, this kind of error in the box is especially costly. Burnley’s defensive setup had held firm otherwise, but this lapse turned the game on its head.

For Burnley, the result is a bitter lesson. That one moment of misjudgment overshadowed a disciplined defensive performance, and Carragher’s criticism is justified.

Despite the defeat, manager Scott Parker should be confidence about his team’s chances this season. They were determined for a large part of the game against the defending champions.

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