Leicester City defender Ricardo Pereira has admitted he is 'feeling lucky' to have avoided a second ACL injury of his career following Tyler Morton's challenge during Liverpool's recent Carabao Cup quarter-final win.
Morton was shown a yellow card by referee Andy Madley for his tackle on the Portuguese right-back in the tenth minute of the match, with Pereira later making way three minutes before half-time after being unable to continue.
Had VAR been in operation during Wednesday's cup contest, it is possible the Liverpool midfielder's punishment could have been upgraded to a red card after the incident.
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Pereira sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in March 2020 - the final Premier League match before the first lockdown - after a tackle involving former Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish which resulted in the 28-year-old spending 10 months on the sidelines.
And the Leicester defender had only recently returned from a one-month hamstring injury when making the recent trip to Anfield.
Pereira has admitted he will now be 'out for some time' as he shared an update on his fitness to supporters on Instagram.
“Perspectives. You can say I should feel unlucky after coming off in my returning game and part of me is, but after what could be a season-ending tackle, what could be an ACL, I’m feeling lucky it’s none of those even though I’ll be out some time," he said.
"Like I say, it’s perspective, for some it was just a yellow card.”
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers was also left frustrated by Madley's decision not to dismiss Morton and believes the match official was 'poor all night' at Anfield.
"It was a poor challenge. I thought the referee was poor all night, I’ve got to say," stated the ex-Liverpool manager after his side's shootout defeat.
“You know me, I never normally comment on the referees, but there were bookings that should have been shown in the first half."
