Liverpool have launched a formal complaint to the referees’ chiefs after Virgil van Dijk’s goal was controversially ruled out during Sunday’s clash with Manchester City.
The Reds were comfortably beaten 3-0 at the Etihad but boss Arne Slot was left frustrated by the call that denied his captain what could have been a vital equaliser. Van Dijk powered home a header to make it 1-1, only for VAR to intervene and rule the goal out. The decision hinged on Andy Robertson being in an offside position and allegedly interfering with City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Replays showed Robertson on the goal line ducking under the ball as it flew past. Referee Paul Tierney and VAR judged that his presence affected Donnarumma’s ability to play the ball.
Liverpool were having none of it. The club contacted PGMOL on Monday morning to challenge the ruling, insisting the decision goes against the wording of the laws of the game.
Law 11 clearly states that a player is only penalised for offside if they interfere with play by touching the ball, obstructing an opponent’s vision, challenging for the ball or making a clear action that impacts the opponent’s ability to play it. Liverpool argue Robertson did none of those things.
Sources close to the club say they have studied multiple camera angles and concluded that the Scotland captain did not block the keeper’s view or movement. They believe Donnarumma had a clear sight of Van Dijk’s header and that the officials’ interpretation was wrong.
Liverpool are demanding that PGMOL explain exactly which part of Law 11 justified the call. The club believe the decision was not a matter of opinion but of rule application, and that no valid criteria were met to disallow the goal.
Slot was careful not to pin the defeat on the incident but made his feelings clear after the match. “He did not interfere at all with what the goalkeeper could do,” he said. “Someone showed me a goal from City against Wolves last season, allowed by the same referee, where Bernardo Silva was on the line for a John Stones header. That goal stood. So the inconsistency is hard to understand.”
Despite his frustration, Slot admitted City were the better side. “Being 2-0 down at half-time was fair,” he said. “It was a wrong decision that the goal was not allowed, but we did not lose because of it.”
Liverpool now await a response from Howard Webb’s PGMOL, but inside Anfield there is quiet fury that what they see as a perfectly good goal was snatched away.