VAR officials face suspension following Liverpool’s disallowed goal
The match officials responsible for a mistaken VAR call that cost Liverpool a goal in their match against Tottenham have been suspended from duty for the rest of the Premier League weekend.
The error occurred when Luis Diaz’s goal was not awarded after a VAR review due to an offside flag, despite it being a clear and obvious factual error.
The VAR official, Darren England, was scheduled to be the fourth official at another Premier League match, and his assistant VAR, Dan Cook, was set to be an assistant referee in a different match. However, they have both been removed from their roles for the weekend.
The game between Liverpool and Tottenham was highly controversial, with Spurs scoring in the 96th minute through an own goal by Joel Matip.
Liverpool also had two players, Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota, sent off during the match.
Liverpool’s manager, Jurgen Klopp, expressed his frustration at the unfair circumstances and controversial decisions in the game.
The PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) chief, Howard Webb, issued an apology to Liverpool for the error that resulted in Diaz’s goal being disallowed.
The PGMOL stated that it was a clear and obvious factual error that should have been corrected through VAR intervention but was not.
