There was a major talking point during Liverpool's 3-0 defeat at Manchester City as Virgil van Dijk's header was disallowed
Virgil van Dijk.
Jamie Carragher says Virgil van Dijk's goal should have stood.(Image: Offside via Getty Images)
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Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes Virgil van Dijk's equaliser against Manchester City should have stood. The Reds captain saw his goal chalked off after it was adjudged that Andy Robertson has interfered with play, while in an offside position, to unfairly impact Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The effort would have brought Liverpool level in the contest after Erling Haaland broke the deadlock after half an hour. Arne Slot's side were second best and below par during the first-half against City and the Dutchman's header would have offered an unlikely route back into the game.
However, it was ruled offside and on the stroke of half-time, Nico Gonzalez's deflected effort wrongfooted Giorgi Mamardashvili to double the hosts' lead. Gary Neville initially expressed doubts about the goal being disallowed but Carragher firmly disagreed with the decision to chalk off Liverpool's leveller.
"This should have gone 1-1," he said. "For me, it's a goal.
"You maybe think you can see why it's been given, you look at Andy Robertson's position, is he impacting the goalkeeper? What a lot of people have looked at, when the ball comes to Van Dijk's head, I can totally understand why that would be given as offside because Andy Robertson looks really close to the goalkeeper.
"Keep an eye on Donnarumma and where he shifts his weight, Donnarumma's weight is going to his right, so he's moving the opposite way, his foot has planted at exactly the time it goes over Andy Robertson's head.
"That is the true moment we should be looking at, not when it leaves Van Dijk's head, but when Robertson makes an action to get out of the way of the ball. Exactly [the duck is irrelevant], he can see everything, his initial movement to the right and he's now diving full stretch.
"He's not impacting him one bit, he's already diving at full stretch for the header because he misreads it. He thinks the ball is going in the other side, he can see it clearly, Robertson getting out of the way of the ball, and you've mentioned the rules, it has absolutely no bearing on what happens here."
Carragher also raised questions over the manner in which the decision was made on-field. Slot noted that the decision occurred 13 seconds after the ball hit the back of the net and Van Dijk celebrating.
Referee Chris Kavanagh required an intervention from VAR for the penalty decision after Jeremy Doku was brought down by Mamardashvili and Carragher suggested that the best practice would have been to allow the video assistant to intervene, had there been an infringement.
Carragher said: "I don't understand, Arne Slot mentioned it post-match, it took 13 seconds before the flag went up, so there's obvious communication, why don't they just let it go to VAR?
"The ball has gone in, you're not quite sure, let VAR look at it. Thirteen seconds later they put the flag up, we talk about Man City getting a bit of luck for the Haaland goal, Liverpool have definitely been unlucky there but Man City were not lucky to win the game. They were streets ahead of Liverpool, especially in the first-half."
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