Yet another catastrophic error at the hands of VAR has forced PMGOL to issue a statement of apology after Tottenham secured a 2-1 win against nine-man Liverpool in an affair that saw Jürgen Klopp’s Reds incorrectly stripped of a potential match-defining goal.
Liverpool winger Luis Díaz had put the Reds ahead in the 34th minute before VAR official Darren England ruled that the on-pitch decision to flag for offside was correct despite no replays showing VAR coming into play.
In the aftermath of the result, Professional Game Match Officials Limited has once again been forced to issue a statement acknowledging human error causing the goal to be incorrectly disallowed before Spurs ultimately marched on to secure a huge three-point haul against a potential title rival.
“PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool.”
The PGMOL statement on the Luis Diaz disallowed goal. 👇 pic.twitter.com/qC2C0jMsXD
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 30, 2023
“PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool.”
“The goal by Luis Díaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials. This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene.”
“PMGOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error.”
But for Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp, that may not be enough after the veteran German tactician already had to bite his tongue during his post-match presser, stating “I never saw a game like this with the most unfair circumstances and crazy decisions. For you it is funny, for me it is just expensive.”
Since the admission of error by PMGOL, Klopp further remarked “Who does that help? We had that situation in the Man United game. Did Wolves get points for it? We won’t get points for it. We all thought that when VAR came in it would make things easier.”
Perhaps The Mirror’s Colin Millar summed it up best from his personal X account; “When VAR was introduced into football it was on three basic premises: it would remove clear and obvious errors, it would significantly reduce officiating controversy/scrutiny, and it would significantly improve officiating. It quite blatantly has not delivered on any of those fronts.”
Stay tuned for more as this could be a developing story.
