VAR Under Scrutiny After Liverpool Denied Goal Against Tottenham
VAR is under major scrutiny once again after the PGMOL admitted that Luis Diaz’s goal was incorrectly ruled out for offside in Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat against Tottenham on Saturday.
Diaz met a through ball from Mohamed Salah and scored to put Liverpool ahead in the 34th minute, but the assistant referee put up his flag for offside. After a very brief check by the VAR team, play was allowed to resume, even though television replays clearly showed that Diaz was onside when Salah had played the pass.
What Went Wrong?
VAR official, Darren England, mistakenly thought that the onfield decision was a ‘goal’ and identified that Diaz was onside. He then told the onfield team ‘check complete’ to confirm that Diaz’s goal was legitimate.
However, referee Simon Hooper believed that ‘check complete’ meant that the VAR team had confirmed the initial decision that Diaz was offside and continued play.
PGMOL Statement
A statement issued by the referees’ body after Liverpool’s defeat read: ‘PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool.
‘The goal by Luiz Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials. This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene. PGMOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error.’
When informed of the PGMOL’s statement admitting the mistake Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said: ‘Who does that help now? We had that situation in the Wolves-Man United game. Did Wolves get the points? No. We will not get points for it so it doesn’t help. Nobody expects 100 per cent right decisions on field but we all thought when VAR comes in that it might make things easier. I don’t know why the people… are they that much under pressure? Today the decision was made really quick I would say for that goal. It changed the momentum of the game, so that’s how it is.’
VAR System Needs Improvement
The incident has once again highlighted the need for improvement in the VAR system. The system has been heavily criticised since its introduction in 2019, with many claiming it has taken away from the excitement of football and caused confusion among players and fans alike.
The PGMOL has promised to review its procedures and ensure that similar mistakes are not made in future. However, it is clear that more needs to be done to make sure that VAR is used correctly and efficiently.
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