Liverpool have contacted Howard Webb, head of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), regarding Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed goal against Manchester City on Sunday. After Erling Haaland put them ahead with his own header at the Etihad Stadium, the Reds captain nodded home Mohamed Salah’s corner to equalize against the Sky Blues.
However, the offside flag was immediately raised and the goal was chalked off as Andy Robertson stood offside in front of Gianluigi Donnarumma as the ball crossed the line. Even though the Scottish player didn’t seem to have an impact on his play. PGMOL claimed that Robertson “appeared to have taken an overt action directly in front of the goalkeeper”, but after reviewing the footage further, Liverpool bosses refused to accept the governing body’s assessment on the basis that the full-back was not blocking Donnarumma’s view and was not in direct line of sight.
The Liverpool Echo suggests that the club believe the wording of the law is clear and that the goal should not have been ruled out as the necessary criteria for it to be disallowed were not met. Meanwhile, Michael Oliver, the video assistant referee (VAR) for the match, did not ask referee Chris Kavanagh to view the footage on the pitchside monitor, but this only reinforced Liverpool’s view that no additional checks were made to interfere with the VAR process and that the result might have been different had they been done.
Arne Slott also made his feelings clear about the VAR decision to disallow the goal in his post-match press conference. “It was a wrong decision for me to disallow this goal, but I won’t say we lost the game because of it. Even if it was 1-1, if City had continued to play the way they were, we would have struggled too,” he said.
Van Dijk, on the other hand, added: “I think the goal should have been scored. I wonder if the explanation was in the way of the goalkeeper or something? But someone showed me the footage of Manchester City scoring against Wolves last year and the referee was the same way.”
“I don’t know, but I’ve already said too much, because it means the decision has been taken. We lost 3-0, but in that sense there are no excuses. We have to take it on the chin and move on.”
It was a tough day at the office for Liverpool, as they suffered their fifth Premier League defeat of the season with a 3-0 humiliation against City. Haaland’s early spot-kick was saved by Giorgi Mamadashvili, and his looping header gave the Cityzens a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute.
Nico Gonzalez then fired a long-range shot that deflected wide of Van Dijk, giving the hosts a 2-0 lead at halftime. Jeremy Doku then scored midway through the second half, cutting inside with his right foot and curling a fly on the edge of the box into the top corner.
As a result of this victory, City currently sit in second place in the Premier League table, four points behind Arsenal. They are currently enjoying a two-week international break and will return to top-flight action on Saturday, November 22nd, when they face struggling Newcastle United away.
Meanwhile, defending champions Liverpool are currently languishing in 8th place in the table. Their next match will be against Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest on November 22nd.
