The Reds captain headed in Mohamed Salah’s corner to equalize against the Sky Blues, shortly after Erling Haaland had put the hosts ahead at the Etihad Stadium with a header of his own. ..Continue Reading
Yet, the assistant referee raised the offside flag swiftly, and the goal was disallowed due to Andy Robertson being in an offside position in front of Gianluigi Donnarumma as the ball crossed the line – even though the Scottish defender appeared uninvolved in the play.
The PGMOL stated that Robertson was “deemed to be making an obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper,” but Liverpool’s leadership challenged this interpretation after reviewing the footage more closely, arguing that the left-back did not obstruct Donnarumma’s vision and wasn’t positioned directly in front of him.
According to the Liverpool Echo, the club maintains that the law’s language is unambiguous, and the necessary conditions to cancel the goal were not satisfied, meaning the goal should have stood.
Elsewhere, Michael Oliver – who served as the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for the match – did not instruct referee Chris Kavanagh to review the incident on the pitchside monitor, reinforcing Liverpool’s belief that the VAR protocol was not properly followed, and had it been, the decision might have changed.
Post-match, Arne Slot voiced his opinion on the VAR ruling. He said: “For me it was a wrong decision that this goal was not allowed, but I will not say because of that we lost the game. Even at 1-1, if City kept on playing like they did, then we would have struggled as well.”
Van Dijk also commented: “I think the goal should have stood. I think the explanation was hindering the goalkeeper or something like that? But someone showed me a clip that Manchester City scored last year against Wolves and the referee was the same.
“I don’t know, I’ve already said too much because the thing is, the decision has been made. We lost 3-0 and we don’t make excuses in that sense. We have to take it on the chin and move on.”
It was a difficult outing for Liverpool, who endured their fifth Premier League defeat of the campaign following a 3-0 loss to City.
Haaland had a penalty saved by Giorgi Mamardashvili early in the match before giving the Cityzens the lead with a looping header in the 29th minute.
Nico Gonzales then doubled the advantage before halftime with a long-range strike that took a significant deflection off Van Dijk and found the net.
Jeremy Doku wrapped up the scoring midway through the second half, cutting in from the flank and unleashing a shot from the edge of the area that flew into the top corner.
With this win, City sit second in the Premier League table, trailing Arsenal by just four points.
They now head into a two-week international break before resuming their league campaign on Saturday, November 22 with an away fixture against a struggling Newcastle United.
Liverpool, the reigning champions, currently find themselves in eighth place. Their upcoming match is against Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest on November 22.
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