Cliff Notes – Referees’ chief backs call to disallow Liverpool goal at Man City
- Howard Webb stated that the decision to disallow Virgil van Dijk’s header was “not unreasonable,” despite Liverpool’s concerns regarding the offside interpretation.
- Liverpool argued that Andy Robertson did not interfere with play as he ducked under the ball, but Webb maintained that his proximity to the goalkeeper impacted the save attempt.
- The VAR concluded that the on-field decision was not “clearly and obviously wrong,” leading to the goal’s disallowance without further review.
Referees’ chief backs call to disallow Liverpool goal at Man City
Premier League referees’ chief Howard Webb said the match officials’ decision to rule out Virgil van Dijk’s header during Liverpool’s defeat at Manchester City on Sunday was “not unreasonable.”
Liverpool contacted Webb, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited’s chief refereeing officer, on Monday to raise concerns about the interpretation of the offside rules after Van Dijk’s header was disallowed by referee Chris Kavanagh.
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Andy Robertson was clearly in an offside position when he ducked under the ball, but Liverpool argued he was not in goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma’s line of vision and so did not interfere with play.
It was a pivotal moment with the score at 1-0 and afterwards head coach Arne Slot said it was “obvious and clear a wrong decision had been made.”
But while Webb said decisions on whether a player is interfering with play or not are “some of the most subjective decisions that we have to make,” he felt the match officials made the right decision.
Virgil van Dijk’s headed goal was disallowed in Liverpool’s defeat to Manchester City. DARREN STAPLES/AFP via Getty Images
He said on TNT Sports’ Match Officials Mic’d Up: “I know that’s not a view held by everybody, but I think it’s not unreasonable to understand why they would form that conclusion.
“When the player is so close to the goalkeeper, the ball’s coming right towards him, he has to duck to get out of the way of the ball and [the match officials] form the conclusion that that impacts Donnarumma’s dive towards the ball to make that save.”
A statement from the Premier League Match Centre at the time of the incident claimed Robertson was “deemed to be making an obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper” but sources told ESPN that Liverpool do not agree with the premise.
Liverpool believe the wording of Law 11 (which deals with offside offences) is clear, and argue that no elements of the criteria needed to disallow the goal were met.
After analysing all available angles, the club do not accept that Donnarumma’s vision was impeded by Robertson’s presence.
The decision on the field was offside, but VAR Michael Oliver did not invite referee Kavanagh to watch the incident again on the pitch-side monitor.
Liverpool have argued a different outcome may have been reached had he been asked to do so.
But Webb added: “Once they’ve made that onfield decision, the job of the VAR is to look at that and decide was the outcome of offside clearly and obviously wrong?
“The VAR determines that the outcome of offside is not clearly and obviously wrong and they stay out of it.”
Information from PA was used in this report.
