Rafa’s official rant could spell trouble

RAFAEL BENITEZ could be investigated by the FA after claiming Stuart Atwell, the fourth official for Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat by Spurs yesterday, was too young to officiate top flight fixtures.

The Spanish manager was furious after his team saw two late penalty appeals turned down by referee Phil Dowd at White Hart Lane, first when Benoit Assou-Ekotto collided with substitute Andriy Voronin, then when the Cameroon defender inadvertently handled Fernando Torres’ cross.

Both claims appeared tenuous at best, but that view was not shared by the Liverpool coaching staff, who angrily harangued Atwell on the touchline. Sammy Lee, the visitors’ assistant manager, led the protests and, after Atwell consulted with Dowd, the former Liverpool midfielder was sent to the stands. Benitez refused to criticise Lee’s behaviour in the aftermath and instead reserved his ire for Atwell, the 26-year-old official who attracted criticism last season when he awarded Reading a ‘ghost goal’ against Watford.

Atwell was dropped from the referees’ list following that blunder but the FA might be more inclined to study Benitez’s comments after he suggested he should not be appointed to another match at his age.

“The fourth official is a young referee and maybe he has to calm down a little bit. He is too young for the Premier League – everyone can see this and this is what I think. The second one you can excuse, but the first one was a clear penalty,’’ he said.

“I will not say anything about Sammy Lee. But it is good that it is Fernando Torres who scores our goals, not him!’’

Benitez insisted it was too early to claim Liverpool’s title ambitions had suffered a serious blow with the defeatand instead urged his side to respond in Wednesday’s home game against Stoke.

“It’s too early to make judgments, but we have another game on Wednesday so we have to respond. We have to win the next game. We have quality in the squad and we have to deal with this. There’s no extra pressure on us this season. We knew we were playing against a good team today but we weren’t comfortable with the ball.’’

Benitez also admitted he could yet be active in the transfer window. “We always want to do some business,’’ he claimed.