LIVE NEWS: Liverpool release statement on Tottenham-VAR controversy

Even though replays later revealed the goal was onside, the Reds’ first-half goal was disallowed for offside.
Following the controversial VAR ruling that disallowed Luis Diaz’s goal in their match against Tottenham on Saturday, Liverpool has expressed its dissatisfaction and disappointment.

Even though they were down to nine players, Liverpool thought Diaz’s goal in the first half had given them the advantage. Due to offside, the goal was disallowed.

Later replays showed that Diaz was in the right spot, casting doubt on the reliability of the VAR’s judgment.

Liverpool acknowledged PGMOL’s admission of failures in a sharply worded statement. The club stressed that because the rules of the game were not correctly applied, sporting integrity was compromised.

“We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under,” the statement read.

But the existence and use of VAR are designed to lessen these pressures, not make them worse.

Liverpool also considered it unacceptable because the referee, Simon Hooper, was not given enough time to make the right call. They rejected the idea that there had been a “significant human error” and urged that all reviews must be open and honest.

Expressing the importance of learning from such situations, Liverpool stated, “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.”

Liverpool ended up losing the match to Tottenham by a 2-1 scoreline. Cody Gakpo scored before half-time to cancel out Son Heung-Min’s opening goal. But in the sixth minute of injury-time, Joel Matip’s own goal handed Spurs all three points in north London.