03 October 2023 , 17:26
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The PGMOL have released the conversation between VAR officials and the on-pitch referee after Luis Diaz 's goal was wrongly ruled out in Liverpool 's defeat to Tottenham.
The Colombian netted in North London only to see his strike ruled out by the offside flag. VAR Darren England and Assistant VAR Dan Cook checked the incident but mistakenly believed that the goal had been allowed to stand on the pitch, and so communicated as such in their conversation with on pitch referee Simon Hooper.
England and Cook then realised their error but decided that they could not correct it, and so allowed a legitimate goal to effectively be ruled out twice.
The audio details the proceedings in the VAR room when Diaz scored, and how the replay operator made the VAR officials aware that they had made an error. It is then communicated that the game needs to be stopped to award the goal, but the VAR officials insist that it can't be.
The PGMOL said in a statement: "As stated shortly after the full-time whistle on Saturday evening, we acknowledged in a statement that a significant human error had occurred during the aforementioned match, which we recognise should have resulted in a goal being awarded through VAR intervention.
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Luis Diaz's goal was disallowed incorrectly"As with all goal situations, the VAR team checked every aspect of the goal. After the on-field officials had disallowed the goal for offside, the checking phase and process started and was carried out correctly by the VAR. The kick-point selection was accurate and the use of a single 2D line on the foot of the second rear-most defender was also correctly positioned.
"The image created showed that Luis Diaz was clearly onside, without the need for the insertion of a second line. In a lapse of concentration and loss of focus in that moment, the VAR lost sight of the on-field decision and he incorrectly communicated “check complete”, therefore inadvertently confirming the on-field decision. He did this without any dialogue with the AVAR [Assistant VAR].
(Getty Images)"The match then restarted immediately. After a few seconds, the Replay Operator and then the AVAR queried the check-complete outcome with the VAR and asked him to review the image that had been created, pointing out that the original on-field decision had been offside, but this was not communicated to the on-field team at any point during the match.
"The VAR team then gave consideration as to whether the game could be stopped at that point, however the VAR and AVAR concluded that the VAR protocol within the Laws of the Game would not permit that to happen, and they decided intervention was not possible as play had restarted.
"PGMOL has carried out a review into the circumstances which led to this incorrect outcome and the subsequent learnings will be implemented to mitigate the risk of errors occurring in the future."
The full audio can be listened to here.