However, they also determined that VAR acted appropriately by not overturning the original call after the Dutch defender’s powerful header was ruled out by assistant referee Stuart Burt. ..Continue Reading
The defending champions could have equalized at 1-1 if Van Dijk’s goal had stood, but it was ruled out due to Andy Robertson being in an offside position.
Match officials judged that the Scotland full-back obstructed Gianluigi Donnarumma’s line of sight as he ducked under the ball.
According to The Times, the KMI panel disagreed with the judgment made by Kavanagh and Burt, yet still supported VAR official Michael Oliver’s decision not to intervene.
The panel includes three former players or managers, one Premier League representative, and one from the PGMOL.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot was furious after the defeat to City. “I think it is obvious and clear the wrong decision has been made,” he said. “He [Robertson] didn’t interfere at all with what the goalkeeper can do.”
Liverpool’s frustration led them to contact PGMOL head Howard Webb to express their dissatisfaction with the call. Webb defended the decision, stating that Donnarumma saw ‘the ball all the way’ but that it was ‘not unreasonable’ for the officials to reach the conclusion they did.
The assistant referee was heard saying: “Robertson’s in line of vision, right in front of the ‘keeper. He’s ducked under the ball. He’s very, very close to him. I think he’s [in] line of vision. I think he’s (Donnarumma) been impacted, mate.
“Okay, so offside then,” Kavanagh responded. His assistant then confirmed: “I think offside.”
The full VAR audio was made public on Tuesday, with Michael Oliver at Stockley Park stating: “Chris [Kavanagh], it’s Michael. Confirming the on-field decision of offside against Andy Robertson.
“He’s in an offside position, very close to the goalkeeper and makes an obvious movement directly in front of him. Check complete, offside.”
Webb clarified that the correct protocol was followed. “They form the conclusion that it impacts Donnarumma’s ability to dive towards the ball and make the save,” he said.
“Once they’ve made that on-field decision, the job of the VAR is to look at that and decide was the outcome clearly and obviously wrong. Only Donnarumma truly knows if he was impacted by this and we have to look at the factual evidence.”
Leave a Reply