Controversial VAR Decision: Listen to the Shocking Audio that Denied Liverpool's Luis Diaz a Goal at Tottenham
PGMOL admits a grave error led to disallowing Luis Diaz's goal for Liverpool against Tottenham The VAR team mistakenly believed the on-field decision was to award the goal Surprisingly, they failed to halt the game despite their blunder Liverpool demanded audio evidence to explore further actions
The match officials' audio recordings relating to the VAR controversy at Tottenham on Saturday have been provided to Liverpool. On Monday, Liverpool formally requested the audio from PGMOL and specifically asked to listen to the complete conversations that occurred during the incident.
The PGMOL have now shared the footage with Liverpool and it is being reviewed by the club.
It is unclear when the audio will be publicly released.
But the PGMOL have not ruled out releasing the audio around the incident before the next edition of Mic'd Up, the organization's new monthly program broadcast on We that includes previously unheard audio from decisions between on-field officials and the VAR team.
Why was Diaz's goal incorrectly ruled out?
The PGMOL considers the possibility of making the audio available prior to the upcoming Mic'd Up episode, enhancing the program's content by featuring previously undisclosed audio recordings capturing discussions between on-field officials and the VAR team.The PGMOL acknowledged right after Tottenham's 2-1 victory that there was a "significant human error," resulting in Diaz's strike being wrongly disallowed. They stated that it was a clear and obvious mistake, and VAR should have intervened to award the goal. The goal was nullified because VAR official Darren England mistakenly believed that Diaz's goal was valid, and he informed on-field referee Simon Hooper that his review was finished.
England and his assistant VAR, Dan Cook, have been removed from matchday duties for this week, following an announcement by Liverpool. The club states that the laws of the game were not correctly applied, leading to a compromise of sporting integrity.
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The club added: "It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.
"In the meantime, we will explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution."
Why didn't the VAR team then stop the game?
It is thought that the VAR team realised their mistake within ten seconds of the game restarting with a Tottenham free-kick.
But with the game 'live' again, the VAR team felt unable to intervene.
The decision to not intervene and halt the game has faced significant criticism despite the prohibition on bringing play back based on the International Football Association Board's rules on Video Assistant Referee (VAR). Rule 10 states that the referee may only conduct a review in instances of mistaken identity or potential sending-off offenses involving violent conduct, spitting, biting, or extremely offensive, insulting, and/or abusive actions.
Hooper was informed about the error during half-time, as stated on We's Monday Night Football show. Jamie Carragher, one of the show's pundits, expressed his difficulty in understanding the situation, as Tottenham had taken a free-kick instead of kicking off, indicating that the mistake should have been recognized immediately.
I would be passionately urging the referee to acknowledge the error, questioning whether they are waiting for the ball to go out of play. The referee insists that they are adhering to protocol and unable to intervene, but I doubt their claim. It appears that they reacted with panic and hesitation.
