Liverpool take action after ‘obvious’ refereeing error in Man City loss | OneFootball

Liverpool have contacted referees’ chief Howard Webb to raise concerns about the interpretation of rules surrounding Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed goal in their 3-0 defeat to Manchester City.

The Netherlands captain’s header was ruled out on the field and reviewed by VAR, due to Andy Robertson, who was standing in an offside position, ducking under the ball.

It was a pivotal moment with the score at 1-0, and head coach Arne Slot later stated it was "obvious and clear a wrong decision had been made".

A PGMOL statement at the time claimed Robertson was "deemed to be making an obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper", but Liverpool, it is understood, disputes this premise.

They do not accept any elements of the criteria relating to Law 11, concerning what constitutes offside, were met, and believe the usual checks and balances in the VAR process did not take place.

Having scrutinised all available footage, the club rejects the assertion that goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma’s view was impeded by Robertson, as he was not in the Italian’s line of vision.

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Andrew Robertson was still arguing with the officials at half time after Virgil van Dijk’s header was disallowed (Nick Potts/PA) (PA Wire)

The on-field decision was offside, but Michael Oliver, the video assistant referee, did not invite Chris Kavanagh to review the incident on the pitchside monitor. Liverpool argue a different outcome may have been reached had he been asked to do so.

The PGMOL has been contacted for comment.

Another VAR decision also went against Liverpool on Sunday when City were awarded a first-half penalty.

Kavanagh initially waved play on, but was then alerted to a trip by Liverpool goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili on Jeremy Doku.

Following the VAR intervention, Kavanagh gave City a spot-kick, but Mamardashvili atoned for his earlier error by keeping out Erling Haaland’s effort.

Haaland did open the scoring shortly afterwards, before Nico Gonzalez and Doku also got on the scoresheet to condemn Liverpool to their fifth league defeat of the season.