“I can’t do anything! FU**!”…’Monumental error’ Liverpool goal canceled, what the hell happened?
“There’s nothing I can do. FU**!”
What the hell happened in the video assistant referee (VAR) room that cost Liverpool a goal has been revealed.
“The Professional Match Officials’ Organization of England (PGMOL) has released the full audio recording from the VAR room relating to the disallowed goal by Luis Diaz in Saturday’s match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool,” the Premier League (PL) official website said on Thursday.
The incident dates back to last weekend. Liverpool lost 1-2 away to Tottenham in the seventh round of the 2023-2024 EPL on Saturday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England.
The Reds were sent off twice. Liverpool pressed hard up front and harassed Tottenham early on, but their plans were disrupted in the 26th minute when Curtis Jones was sent off. Jones slipped as he tried to win the ball and tackled Yves Bissouma hard into the shin area. The referee pulled out a red card after a video assistant referee (VAR) review.
It wasn’t the end of the story. Liverpool brought on Diogo Jota after Cody Gakpo complained of pain at the start of the second half, but Jota was sent off for a second yellow card in the 24th minute with the score tied at 1-1. Playing with nine men for over 20 minutes, Liverpool went down to their knees at 1-2, with Joel Matip’s unfortunate own goal just before the end of the match.
To add insult to injury, the Reds had a goal disallowed. In the 34th minute, Dias found the back of the net after slipping behind the Tottenham defense. It looked as if Liverpool would take the lead in red territory, but after VAR, the goal was ruled offside.
However, this turned out to be a mistake due to a miscommunication between the video assistant referee and the referee. The VAR room thought the referee had awarded the goal and told them it was confirmed, but it was actually offside. After being robbed of a legitimate lead, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp reacted angrily after the game, saying “I’ve never seen a game played in such unfair conditions” and “it was a crazy call.”
After the game, PGMOL was quick to acknowledge the error. “The referee made a major mistake in the first half,” PGMOL said. “The referee made a major mistake in the first half when he disallowed Diaz’s goal, but the VAR should have stepped in and awarded the goal, and it was a clear mistake not to do so. We will fully review the process by which this decision was made.”
Liverpool followed suit with an official statement. “Last night PGMOL admitted they got it wrong. It is clear that the fairness of the sport has been compromised by a failure to apply the rules of the game correctly.” “We fully understand the pressure that referees are under, but this pressure should be alleviated by the existence and implementation of VAR. It should not be exacerbated.”
He also called for measures to be put in place. “It is unsatisfactory that we were not given enough time to make the right decision and that there was no follow-up intervention,” Liverpool said, “It is also unacceptable that this failure has already been labeled as a ‘significant human error’. “It is also unacceptable that this failure has already been labeled a ‘significant human error’. This is essential for the reliability of future decisions. This is because the lessons learned can be used to improve processes and be applied to all clubs. We must ensure that this situation never happens again.”
Of course, there was no way to change the outcome. A replay or a draw is not an option. For now, PGMOL has excluded referees Darren England and Dan Cook, the VARs for the Tottenham and Liverpool games, from the next match. England was scheduled to be the fourth official for the Nottingham Forest and Brentford games, and Cook was scheduled to be the assistant referee for the Fulham and Chelsea games, but both were replaced.
Unsurprisingly, the controversy did not die down easily. CNN in the US called it a “monumental error”. Eventually, the PGMOL even released a recording of the incident. It shows the entire conversation between the assistant referee, the referee, the VAR, and the replay room officials. Liverpool have reportedly already received and reviewed the recording.
The revelations are shocking. The referee and assistant referee initially called Díaz offside after his shot crossed the line. They then communicated with the VAR room to double-check.
The VAR immediately communicated with the replay room and looked at several angles. The result was a line drawn precisely to the foot of Tottenham’s final defender, Cristian Romero, and confirmed that he was onside. “Checked. Perfect,” he shouted.
And just like that, play resumed. Not from a kickoff after Tottenham’s goal, but from a free kick. Then the replay room said, “No, wait, wait, wait. The original call was offside, is this correct?” and realized the error. The assistant referee VAR (AVAR) said, “That’s right. Offside,” and then realized the problem and said, “Wait a minute, that’s wrong,” in surprise.
But the play had already been rushed. Realizing the mistake, the VAR referee, England, let out an expletive, but there was nothing he could do.
The replay room relayed the PGMOL representative’s call to stop play, but the VAR was frustrated, saying, “There’s nothing we can do now.” The replay room again asked for the match to be stopped, but was told “The match has already been restarted. We can’t do anything about it” and profanity were repeated.
In releasing the recording, PGMOL said: “As we stated shortly after the final whistle on Saturday evening, we acknowledged that a significant human error occurred in the match. We acknowledged that the goal should have been ruled a goal through VAR intervention,” the organization reiterated.
PGMOL continued: “As with all scoring situations, the VAR team checked every aspect of the game. After the goal was disallowed for offside by the on-field officials, the checking steps and procedures were initiated and correctly carried out by the VAR. The moment of the kick was chosen correctly, and a precise 2D line was drawn to the feet of the defenders (including the goalkeeper) second behind.”
He also explained why the VARs did not stop play and award the goal. “The VAR team considered the possibility of stopping the game at that point, but the VAR referee and AVAR concluded that this was not permitted according to the protocol within the Laws of the Game, and therefore no intervention was possible,” PGMOL said.
“The offending VAR and AVAR have been removed from the schedule for the remainder of Round 7 and have been removed from the schedule for Round 8 this weekend,” PGMOL concluded. “In addition, PGMOL and the English Football Association (FA) have agreed to review the policy of having match officials independent of FIFA and UEFA to officiate at matches, 먹튀검증토토사이트 and have indicated that they will discuss how to prevent a recurrence.”