Neither Arne Slot’s Liverpool nor Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have enjoyed a perfect start to the 2025/26 Premier League campaign, but their meeting at the Etihad certainly didn’t lack drama — especially after Virgil van Dijk’s first-half equaliser was chalked off for offside.
What is normally a showdown between two title contenders saw Erling Haaland open the scoring just before the half-hour mark. Minutes later, Van Dijk seemed to have pulled Liverpool level with a powerful header past Gianluigi Donnarumma — who didn’t even attempt to dive — sending the away end into celebration.
But the joy didn’t last. The referee quickly disallowed the goal, leaving Liverpool stunned.
Officials deemed Andy Robertson to be in an offside position directly in front of Donnarumma, obstructing the goalkeeper’s line of sight. Replays showed Robertson ducking as the ball flew in, but VAR upheld the assistant referee’s decision. The Premier League later released a statement to clarify:
“The on-field decision of offside and no goal for Liverpool was checked and confirmed by VAR — Robertson was offside and clearly impacting the goalkeeper.”
At halftime, Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Micah Richards voiced their disbelief, with Neville branding the ruling “very harsh.”
Liverpool supporters were furious on social media, describing the call as “a joke,” “a robbery,” and insisting the goal should have counted.
To make matters worse for Slot’s men, City doubled their advantage just before the break. Bernardo Silva slipped the ball to Nico Gonzalez on the edge of the area, and the Spaniard’s effort took a deflection off Van Dijk, wrong-footing Giorgi Mamardashvili and capping off a disastrous opening 45 minutes for Liverpool.
