Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that Ibrahima Konate was "lucky" to avoid being sent off in Saturday's 2-0 Merseyside derby win over Everton at Anfield.
The Reds rose to the top of the Premier League table by ending a two-game winless streak in the top flight against their bitter rivals, who had Ashley Young dismissed for two bookings in the first half.
Sean Dyche's well-drilled defence still proved tough to break down for a toothless Liverpool side, who were fortunate not to have gone down to 10 men themselves in the second half.
Konate - who was recalled to the XI over Joel Matip - prevented Everton striker Beto from charging through to meet a threaded pass while already on a yellow card, but Craig Pawson waved away Everton's protestations for a second caution.
Immediately after Konate's unpunished challenge, Klopp withdrew the France international before Mohamed Salah came up with a late brace, netting from the penalty spot before finishing off a quick counter-attack.
However, Klopp admitted to beIN Sports after the game that his side could "probably" count themselves lucky that the game did not finish 10 versus 10, saying: "We took him off because of that of course.
"I didn't see it back, but I've seen lots of football games with yellow cards in moments like this. We got lucky probably, but Joel played a sensational game when he came on."
Elaborating on the incident in his post-game press conference, Klopp admitted that he could understand Sean Dyche's frustrations, adding: "To be 100 per cent honest, I didn't see it back yet. I was not sure I saw it 100 per cent, I think I was somewhere else in that moment.
"But then when he is going down, Ibou I knew had a yellow card so I knew that could be now tricky. Then he didn't get the second yellow and then I thought, OK, we don't give it a chance and take him off. I understand, how you can imagine, the frustration of Everton and Sean [Dyche] in this moment, absolutely.
"Was it 0-0 still or was it 1-0? 0-0. 10 v 10. I thought we were the better side. Would we have won? I don't know, we will never find out. But it's not that I would have thought, OK, now we have no chance to win the game anymore. 100 per cent not. It would have been interesting.
"Would Everton have changed anything or not? We don't know. Would they have been a bit more offensive or not? That's all hypothetical obviously. 2-0 and we deserved the three points, I think there's no doubt."
Everton could have had few complaints about a 75th-minute penalty for the Reds, though, as Michael Keane stopped Luis Diaz's cross with his outstretched arm, and Salah emphatically found the side of the net to break the deadlock.
The Reds doubled their lead through their Egyptian star in added time, as Alexis Mac Allister released Darwin Nunez on the counter, and the Uruguayan fed Salah to find the bottom corner with a crisp first-time finish.
The 31-year-old has now registered a goal or assist in 13 successive Premier League home games, and Klopp hailed his "crazy" statistics, adding: "Look, what I love most about Mo is... well, maybe mostly I love the numbers!
"But I think that Mo Salah played for us an incredible amount of fantastic games. Today was not his best game but then [still] being that clinical with the penalty and then staying in the situation, that's probably his biggest quality, and I love that.
"We need someone who can bring the ball over the line, and he was that again. I couldn't respect that fact more. It's absolutely outstanding, the numbers are crazy. He will never stop, that is his nature and that's really cool for us."
Liverpool now take a break from Premier League action to host Toulouse in the Europa League on Thursday evening. body check tags ::
