Liverpool were almost made to pay for a glaring mistake made by VAR on Friday when Bournemouth defender Marcos Senesi slapped the ball and prevented Hugo Ekitike from bearing down on goal.
Ekitike was about to take a touch and break away from Senesi when, after the ball hit his thigh and then his elbow, he extended his hand to the ball and pushed it with his fingertips away from Ekitike.
It was likely an instinctive movement and not a conscious attempt at cheating but it denied Liverpool a goalscoring opportunity all the same.
Senesi was not the villain but rather the Premier League officials entrusted with making these decisions.
Former Premier League referee says VAR made a massive mistake in Liverpool vs. Bournemouth
“To me that’s rubbish [that Sensi’s handball wasn’t a clear and obvious offence], if you’re talking about the one with his elbow, that could be seen as accidental,” Jay Bothroyd said live on Sky Sports.
“But the one where he’s reached for the ball and touched the ball with his hand, you see that the ball has come away from his hand, so obviously he’s touched it, that’s the one where he’s clearly gone for the ball, and that’s why it should be a red card.”
To which former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher replied: “I think they’re just repeating what VAR said because the VAR cleared it, I was watching the game and VAR said ‘it’s not a handball offence because it’s come off his thigh onto his elbow’ which is never going to be hand ball, but he hasn’t looked for the swipe.
“I think he clearly looked at it too quickly.”
"That's a poor decision."
Was Hugo Ekitike denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity by Bournemouth's Marcos Senesi? ? pic.twitter.com/oFk8xHiGm6
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 18, 2025
VAR already has big questions answer after opening weekend of Premier League football
Hopefully this isn’t going to be a long season filled with catastrophic errors from the referees and VAR.
Liverpool weren’t the only team affected this weekend either – just the first.
Manchester United should have had a penalty against Arsenal and William Saliba was impeding the goalkeeper when Arsenal scored at Old Trafford.
It is very disheartening to see these errors take place in an age where the officials have the power to slow down and zoom in on instances and still somehow come to the wrong conclusion.
Fortunately, Liverpool weren’t hurt by the mistake but had they not scored two late goals, PGMOL would have received an even greater backlash than they have.