Liverpool have officially lodged a complaint with refereeing chief Howard Webb after Virgil van Dijk saw his goal against Manchester City ruled out.
Van Dijk thought he had scored the equaliser, but the effort was chalked off because Andy Robertson was deemed to be offside and obstructing Gianluigi Donnarumma’s view. According to The Athletic, Liverpool informed PGMOL that they reject the explanation that the call came down to “subjective interpretation.” The club maintains that the wording of the law is straightforward and that none of the criteria for disallowing the goal were met. The Premier League’s Match Centre later issued a clarification.
Their statement said:
“The referee’s on-field decision of offside and no goal was checked and upheld by VAR — Robertson was in an offside position and made an obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper.”
Manager Arne Slot was visibly frustrated after the match.
He said: “It’s difficult to explain my feelings. For me, it’s clearly the wrong decision. Robertson didn’t interfere with the goalkeeper at all. After the match someone showed me a similar situation where the same referee allowed a goal for City against Wolves last season. The assistant took 13 seconds before raising the flag here — so it’s obvious there was debate. That moment could have changed everything for us.”
Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville agreed with Slot on Sky Sports, saying:
“I think the goalkeeper sees the ball the whole time. Robertson isn’t blocking his view. Van Dijk’s position is clear. I understand Slot’s anger.”
He continued:
“There have been similar goals given recently. Donnarumma has a clear sightline. Liverpool will feel extremely unlucky.”
The controversy did not end there. Manchester City were also awarded a questionable penalty after Jeremy Doku went down under pressure from Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Although Erling Haaland’s spot-kick was saved, he later scored with a header, and Nico González and Doku added two more goal.
