Who was the VAR who disallowed Luis Díaz’s Liverpool goal?

In a highly anticipated Premier League clash, Liverpool had the chance to steal the top spot from Manchester City, who were involved in a shock 2-1 loss to Wolves earlier in the day. However, the Reds suffered defeat by the same scoreline in Sunday evening’s game against Tottenham Hotspur. It was far from an ordinary affair, however, with a late own goal deciding the result after two red cards and a perfectly fine goal being disallowed.

Son Heung-min opened the scoring for Tottenham in the 36th minute, tucking home neatly. Liverpool, however, quickly responded, with Dutchman Cody Gakpo netting an equalizer in the 45th minute, albeit while suffering an injury in the process.

The winning goal occurred deep into injury time when Joel Matip inadvertently directed the ball into his own net, handing Tottenham all three points. But there was so much more to defining this game.

Reds for Reds amid controversial refereeing decisions

Liverpool finished the match with just nine players on the pitch, and had it not been for Matip’s misfortune would have been celebrating holding out for a point. Curtis Jones received a red card in the 26th minute, while Portuguese forward Diogo Jota was shown a second yellow card in the 69th minute.

But the major talking point came just moments before Son’s opener, when Colombian winger Luis Díaz scored a lovely goal for the Reds, but it was ruled out for offside. VAR appeared to do the briefest of checks when it looked to anyone with eyes a poor call, but didn’t intervene. The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the organization responsible for match officiating in English football, later acknowledged a “significant human error” that had a pivotal impact on the game.

Liverpool’s manager, Jürgen Klopp, expressed his displeasure with the controversial decisions made during the game in post-match interviews. He believed that the disallowed goal had a game-changing effect and was critical of both of his team’s red cards. The combination of these events left Liverpool fans questioning the integrity of the game.

Tottenham vs Liverpool: referee team

The controversial decisions in the game were made for their part by: Referee, Simon Hooper. Assistants, Adrian Holmes, Simon Long, Fourth official, Michael Oliver, VAR, Darren England and Assistant VAR, Dan Cook. Given the PGMOL statement that the VAR should have corrected the bad on-field decision with Díaz’s ruled out goal, Messrs England and Cook are unlikely to get any Christmas cards from Reds fans in the future.

Liverpool now sit fourth in the Premier League trailing leaders Manchester City by two points, with Spurs and Arsenal sandwiched between.