Liverpool has released a statement expressing their displeasure over the VAR incident in their game against Tottenham.
Liverpool lost 2-1 to Tottenham on Saturday under contoversial circumstances arising from the officiating and VAR judgement.
On one hand, Liverpool had Luis Diaz’s opening goal of the game ruled out after a mix-up between center referee Simon Hooper and VAR assistant Darren England.
Another controversy also arose when VAR intervention saw Curtis Jones’ yellow card swapped for a straight red. He was controversially given a red after his foot appeared to slip over the top of the ball and into the leg of Yves Bissouma.
VAR decided that it’s a red card offence and the midfielder, even though pleaded his innocence, was eventually ordered out of the pitch.
The linesman mistakenly raised his flag for off side after Diaz thought he’d put Liverpool 1-0.
It was however later revealed that VAR assistant Darren England had thought the goal had been given on-field, leading to a ridiculous chain of events which led to the goal being ruled out despite clearly being onside.
That Liverpool were left with just nine men on the pitch and it seemed that Liverpool were coasting on to a share of the spoils, Joel Matip mistakenly turned the ball into his own net in added time at the end of the game to ultimately handed the hosts the glory of the day.
Earlier, Tottenham had been pushed to the lead after Heung-Min Son open the scoring for them. Cody Gakpo later levelled up on the stroke of half-time.
Meanwhile, the PGMOL has admitted to the error made in the game and the VAR Official who was in charge had also stepped down.
In the statement by Liverpool, they acknowledged PGMOL’s admission and pointed out that the correct application of the law was not effected.
“Liverpool acknowledge PGMOL’s admission of their failures last night. It is clear the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.
“We fully accept the pressures match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR.
“It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.
“That such failings have already been categorised as ‘significant human error’ is also unacceptable. Any and all outcomes should be established only by the review and with full transparency.
“This is vital for the reliability of future decision-making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again.
In his own reaction, Manager Jurgen Klopp said “Nobody expects 100% right decisions on the field.
“I think we all thought when VAR came in, it might make things easier. I don’t know why people are acting under that much pressure.
Kloop believed that the decision was made really quickly for the goal and it changed the momentum of the game.