Why was Virgil van Dijk’s goal against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final ruled out for offside by VAR?

Liverpool thought they had taken a big step froward in their quest to win the first of four trophies this season when Virgil van Dijk headed into the net after an hour of the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea. However, Jürgen Klopp’s side were ultimately left disappointed after the Dutchman’s header was somewhat controversially ruled out for offside by VAR.

VAR prevents van Dijk from putting Liverpool in front

At first glance, there looked to be absolutely nothing wrong with van Dijk’s goal. The central defender met Andy Robertson’s left-wing free kick near the penalty spot and directed an inch-perfect header beyond the dive of Blues goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.

However, on-field referee Chris Kavanagh was alerted of a possible infringement by VAR John Brooks, and ultimately disallowed the goal for offside.

Why was Wataru Endo ruled to be offside?

Replays of the incident showed van Dijk himself was in an onside position, with Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo the man judged to have been in front of the Chelsea defence.

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The Japanese was nowhere the ball when his teammate headed it in, but had blocked Blues defender Levi Colwill, who the match officials deemed - perhaps controversially - could have cleared Robertson’s ball into the box ahead of van Dijk.

The incident generated a huge amount of debate on social media, while all-time Premier League top scorer Alan Shearer, now working as a pundit for the BBC, said of Colwill, “I find it hard to believe that that Chelsea player would get anywhere near the ball coming in.”