The Reds manager was furious in his post-match press conference, insisting it was “clear” the “wrong decision” had been made.
On Monday, Liverpool contacted Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) chairman Howard Webb to express their “concerns” about Van Dijk’s canceled goal.
They informed the referees that the decision to rule out a goal for subjective reasons was unacceptable.
This time, former Premier League official Foy handed down the verdict.
He said he wished Van Dijk had scored the goal, but did not think there was a clear mistake. Foy told the Guardian: “There was one big incident in the Premier League this weekend that grabbed all the headlines and made headlines. That was referee Chris Kavanagh’s decision to disallow Liverpool’s equalizer in a high-stakes game against Manchester City. In my opinion, this decision is highly subjective, but not a clear and obvious mistake.”
“Starting from the top. After Virgil van Dijk’s header from a corner kick, the ball was in the back of the net and assistant referee Stuart Burt flagged him offside. The offside player was Andy Robertson in the goal area.”
“Robertson was standing almost in front of the goalkeeper when Van Dijk headed the ball. He then shifted to his left, shifted forward, and when the ball was about to hit him, he ducked out of the way and the ball went into the goal.”
“The goal was disallowed on the field because the flag was raised, but as we know when a goal is scored it is automatically checked by VAR.
“Being in an offside position is not an offense per se. It only becomes an issue if you are involved in aggressive play. Robertson was penalized because he was deemed to have taken an action that clearly affected the ability of an opponent, in this case Gianluigi Donnarumma, to play the ball.”
“We cannot say with certainty whether Donnarumma had the ball or not, and video assistant referee Michael Oliver would need clear evidence that Donnarumma had no influence in order to overturn the on-field decision. VAR intervention would require clear evidence to overturn the decision, and there was no such evidence.”
