Unveiled: Controversial Liverpool VAR Decision - Exclusive Audio Recording of Luis Diaz's Disallowed Goal at Tottenham
PGMOL admits human error caused Liverpool's Luis Diaz goal to be wrongly disallowed at Tottenham VAR team mistakenly believed on-field decision was to award the goal Liverpool formally requests audio from officials to explore available options
The audio of the conversations among the match officials involved in the VAR controversy during Liverpool's loss at Tottenham will be made public. In order to enhance transparency, the PGMOL intends to share the dialogue that occurred when Luis Diaz's goal was wrongly disallowed.
Liverpool have submitted an official request to PGMOL, urging them to release the audio recordings of the conversations that transpired in their entirety. Although the ongoing investigation into the events of Saturday might cause a delay in the release, it is certain that the audio will be made public eventually.
First and foremost, the review's findings will be sent to Liverpool.
The PGMOL has not dismissed the possibility of sharing the audio regarding the incident prior to the next installment of Mic'd Up. This monthly program, aired on our platform, features exclusive audio capturing discussions between on-field officials and the VAR team.
Why was Diaz's goal incorrectly ruled out?
Following Tottenham's 2-1 victory, the PGMOL promptly acknowledged that "a notable human error transpired," whereby Diaz's powerful shot was unjustly disallowed. They further acknowledged that this was an unequivocal factual mistake and emphasized that VAR intervention should have rightfully awarded the goal.
The goal was disallowed after VAR official Darren England incorrectly thought Diaz's goal was initially valid and informed on-field referee Simon Hooper that his review was finished. Both England and his assistant VAR, Dan Cook, have been excluded from matchday duties this week.
In a statement released on Sunday night, Liverpool said "it is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined".
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The club expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of sufficient time given to make the correct decision and the absence of subsequent intervention. They stated that they will now consider various available options to address the 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.
However, since the game resumed, the VAR team was unable to intervene as per the rules established by IFAB. Rule 10 explicitly states that once play has been stopped and restarted, the referee can only conduct a 'review' in cases of mistaken identity or potential sending-off offenses related to violent conduct, spitting, biting, or extremely offensive, insulting, and/or abusive actions.
However, the decision not to intervene and stop the game has been widely criticised.
According to We' Monday Night Football, Hooper was only told of the error at half-time.
During the show, pundit Jamie Carragher expressed his struggle with the situation, stating, "I find it difficult to comprehend how they couldn't immediately realize that Tottenham had taken a free-kick instead of kicking off. If it were me, I would have been shouting at the referee, pointing out the mistake. Perhaps they were informed that they had to wait until the ball went out of play. They claim to have followed protocol, stating that they were not allowed to interrupt the game, but I find it hard to believe that. It seems like they panicked and froze in the moment."
