The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents panel (KMI) have made an official ruling on the controversial decision to disallow Virgil van Dijk's goal for Liverpool against Manchester City. The Reds ultimately lost the game, but would have drawn level were it not for the intervention of referee Chris Kavanagh and his team of officials.
Van Dijk rose highest from a corner to head into the City net, when 1-0 down, but the on-field decision was to rule the goal out for offside due to Andy Robertson, who was said to be in Gianluigi Donnarumma's line of vision.
Audio from the Premier League game revealed that VAR referee Michael Oliver then confirmed the decision, saying: "He is in an offside position, very close to the goalkeeper and makes an obvious movement directly in front of him."
The call, however, sparked a huge response, and now the KMI have revealed that they believe the goal should have stood.
KMI Rule That Chris Kavanagh Made Error
As per an exclusive report in The Times, Van Dijk’s goal for Liverpool against Manchester City should have stood. That said, they did add a caveat explaining that VAR was right not to overturn the on-pitch decision to rule it out.
The panel, which consists of three former players or coaches, one person from the Premier League and one from the PGMOL, felt that referee Kavanagh and his assistant Stuart Burt got the on-field decision wrong. They agreed with the argument that Robertson was not affecting Donnarumma enough to be deemed offside.
That said, they noted that Oliver was correct not to overrule the call with VAR. It's explained that the technology can be used to overturn a subjective decision if a “clear and obvious error” has been identified, but it cannot be used to overturn an offside call such as this, where the on-field officials ruled that Robertson was in an offside position and involved in play.
Arne Slot Was Furious But Howard Webb Defended His Refs
Arne Slot
Liverpool boss Arne Slot was angered at the time, remarking: "It's difficult for me to give my view about it, I think it's obvious and clear the wrong decision has been made – at least in my opinion."
He added: "Because he [Robertson] didn't interfere at all with what the goalkeeper could do. Immediately after the game, someone showed me the goal that the same referee allowed City against Wolves last season, so it took the linesman 13 seconds to raise his flag to say it's offside. So there was clearly communication."
PGMOL chief, Howard Webb, defended the call, claiming
“not unreasonable” for the officials to reach their conclusion. But it seems as though the majority will remember this as a mistake from Kavanagh and his team – a stance which has now officially been backed up by the KMI panel.