Liverpool have submitted a formal request to the referees’ governing body PGMOL to hear the audio from the VAR team from Saturday’s controversial 2-1 defeat to Tottenham.
The Merseysiders were reduced to 10 men in the first half in north London when Curtis Jones’ challenge was upgraded to a red card, though they thought they had taken the lead moments later.
Mohamed Salah slipped in Luis Diaz who raced clear and fired an excellent effort into the far bottom corner, only for his celebrations to be cut short by the linesman’s flag.
After a very quick VAR check, play restarted with a free-kick to Spurs but it quickly became clear that a huge blunder had taken place with replays showing Diaz was clearly onside.
PGMOL released a statement shortly after full-time saying a ‘significant human error’ had taken place and it later transpired that VAR Darren England had mistakenly thought the goal had been given on the pitch, with his ‘check complete’ confirming that Diaz was onside.
But the on-field team, led by referee Simon Hooper, interpreted that comment to mean the on-field decision of offside was correct and they were unable to correct the decision once play had restarted.
Liverpool issued a strongly worded statement on Sunday evening saying they would ‘explore a range of options’ in order to ‘escalate and resolve’ the matter.
Now they have made a formal request to PGMOL to receive the audio between the officials from Saturday’s game in order to hear for themselves how the blunder occurred.
According to The Athletic, senior figures at Liverpool believe it is a ‘crucial step’ to establish how and why the goal was incorrectly disallowed and to ensure they receive the ‘full transparency’ they demanded in their statement.
The audio communication between the officials is actually broadcast live – though not on TV due to FIFA rules – and would have been heard by commentators working on the match, with none reporting any foul play.
PGMOL have released audio of incidents in the past, including embarrassing blunders such as the decision not to penalise Manchester United’s Andre Onana earlier this season, and there is an expectation that they will release the audio.
VAR Darren England as well as his assistant, Dan Cook, were both stood down from their respective refereeing duties following the error and Liverpool are also thought to want an explanation as to why they had officiated in the UAE just 48 hours before the match at Tottenham.
Liverpool have also appealed against Jones’ red card in the first half of Saturday’s match, which carries a three-match ban, though they are unlikely to be successful.
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