A Premier League panel has been left split following the controversy surrounding Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed goal for Liverpool against Manchester City earlier this month.
The Reds’ captain had his header chalked off during the first half of the two sides’ meeting at the Etihad Stadium, with Andy Robertson adjudged to have been in goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma’s line of sight from an offside position.
Had the goal stood, Liverpool would have drawn level at 1-1 following Erling Haaland’s opener. Instead, the Reds would go on to fall 2-0 down before half-time, and eventually went on to lose the game 3-0.
The decision to disallow Van Dijk’s goal has caused plenty of controversy as replays showed that Robertson hadn’t obstructed Donnarumma’s view, with the left-back having also ducked under the ball on its way into the net.
The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel has now ruled that the decision to disallow the goal was correctly not overturned by VAR, although the panel was split on the decision.
According to BBC Sport, the five-person panel voted three to two that the on-field call made by Chris Kavanagh and his assistant Stuart Burt to rule the goal out was incorrect.
Virgil van Dijk's goal was disallowed after Andy Robertson was ajudged to have been in Gianluigi Donnarumma's line of sight from an offside position
Virgil van Dijk's goal was disallowed after Andy Robertson was ajudged to have been in Gianluigi Donnarumma's line of sight from an offside position (Image: Getty Images)
However, the panel also found that the VAR team of Michael Oliver and Tim Wood was correct not to intervene in the incident, although that also saw a 3-2 split.
The panel’s decision comes after PGMOL chief Howard Webb defended the decision to disallow Van Dijk’s goal, describing it as “not unreasonable” despite Liverpool complaining to the referees’ board.
The KMI panel found that the majority "felt that due to Robertson not being in the line of vision of the goalkeeper at the time of the header, and his subsequent actions not clearly impacting Donnarumma's attempt to save the ball, the goal should have been awarded".
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But while two of the five members felt that constituted a “clear and obvious error” for VAR to intervene on, another judged "the movement in front of the goalkeeper meant that this was not a clear and obvious error, and VAR was correct to not intervene", leading to the split in the panel.
Liverpool.com says: Is it any wonder that there are these regular controversies around referees’ decisions in the Premier League when you get judgments like this?
How on earth can a panel of “experts” decide that the on-field officials have made a wrong decision, and then judge that VAR shouldn’t have intervened? That is exactly why VAR is there - to correct the wrong calls that could have a huge impact on the game.
The flip-flopping that goes on is simply astounding, and the standards of refereeing in the Premier League are not going to improve with nonsensical decisions like this.