Liverpool Football Club has stated that it will explore all available options after Luis Diaz’s goal was ruled out against Tottenham, due to a “significant human error” by the VAR team.
The PGMOL has admitted that the correct application of the rules of the game did not occur, resulting in the undermining of sporting integrity.
Liverpool accepts the pressures that match officials work under but believes that these pressures should be alleviated and not exacerbated by the existence and implementation of VAR.
The club finds it unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not given to allow the correct decision to be made, and that there was no subsequent intervention.
The failure has been categorized as a “significant human error,” which is unacceptable.
All outcomes should be established only through review and with full transparency, for the reliability of future decision-making and the improvement of processes to ensure that this situation cannot occur again.
In the meantime, the club will explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution.
According to Sky Sports News’ Melissa Reddy, there is a big push for the remit of PGMOL’s review to not solely be restricted to the VAR failings itself and how it happened but to examine the appointment process of the officials given that three of them, two central to the blunder, worked in the UAE 48 hours before the game.
The PGMOL immediately admitted that “a significant human error occurred” after Diaz’s strike was ruled out, adding: “This was a clear and obvious factual error, and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention.”
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Initially, it was believed that VAR Darren England had failed to check whether a Tottenham defender had played Diaz onside by drawing the on-screen lines.
However, it later emerged that the VAR incorrectly thought the on-field decision was that a goal had been awarded, when in fact, it had not been.
This resulted in England, despite realizing that Diaz was onside, relaying a message of ‘check complete’ and the goal being ruled out.
There was less than 40 seconds between Diaz’s shot hitting the back of the net and play being restarted, while there was less than 10 seconds between TV viewers being shown a VAR review was taking place and the check being completed.
PGMOL confirmed both England and Dan Cook, the assistant VAR for the Tottenham vs. Liverpool match, have been stood down from their next matches.
England was replaced by Craig Pawson in Nottingham Forest’s game against Brentford, while Eddie Smart took Cook’s place for Fulham’s home game against Chelsea.
It remains unknown when England and Cook first realized their mistake.
Following England’s message of ‘check complete’ to on-field referee Simon Hooper, the game restarted less than a minute after Diaz had scored his goal with a free-kick to Tottenham.
With the game ‘live’ again, it is thought that the VAR team felt unable to intervene.
The IFAB rules on VAR state that play cannot be brought back in a case like this. Rule 10 says: “If play has stopped and been restarted, the referee may not undertake a ‘review’ except for a case of mistaken identity or a potential sending-off offence relating to violent conduct, spitting, biting, or extremely offensive, insulting, and/or abusive action(s).”
Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher expressed their opinions on the matter, with Neville suggesting that the ref was considering taking the game back and declaring it a goal.
Carragher criticized the rule that prevents a review once play has been resumed, saying that it makes no sense if the officials knew they had made a huge mistake.
