Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes Virgil van Dijk's equalizer against Manchester City ought to have stood.
The Reds captain saw his effort chalked off after officials determined Andy Robertson had interfered with play while in an offside position, improperly influencing Gianluigi Donnarumma. The strike would have brought Liverpool level following Erling Haaland's opener after 30 minutes.
Arne Slot's side were outclassed and disappointing during the first half against City, with the Dutchman's header potentially providing an unlikely route back into the Premier League contest. However, it was ruled offside, leaving Liverpool bewildered, and moments before the interval, Nico Gonzalez's deflected effort caught Giorgi Mamardashvili unaware to extend the hosts' lead.
Gary Neville initially queried whether the goal should have been disallowed, but Carragher vehemently disagreed with the decision to rule out 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.
Virgil van Dijk was denied a goal on Sunday
Virgil van Dijk was denied a goal on Sunday (Image: Getty Images)
"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 concerns about how the decision was made on the field. Slot highlighted that the ruling came 13 seconds after the ball had crossed the line with Van Dijk in full celebration mode.
Referee Chris Kavanagh required VAR intervention for the penalty decision when Jeremy Doku was brought down by Mamardashvili, and Carragher believed the optimal solution would have been to allow the video assistant to intervene if an infringement had occurred.
Carragher continued: "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. 13 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."