Liverpool release statement on Tottenham-VAR controversy

The Reds had a first-half goal ruled out for offside, although replays later showed the goal was onside.

Liverpool have expressed frustration and disappointment following the controversial VAR decision that disallowed Luis Diaz’s goal in their Saturday clash with Tottenham.

Despite being down to nine men, Liverpool believed they had taken the lead through Diaz’s first-half strike. The goal was disallowed for offside.

Replays later revealed that Diaz was onside, raising questions about the accuracy of VAR’s decision.

In a strongly worded statement, Liverpool acknowledged the admission of failures by PGMOL. The club emphasized that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, undermining sporting integrity.

“We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under,” the statement said.

“But these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR.”

Liverpool also found it unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded for the referee, Simon Hooper, to make the correct decision. They dismissed claims the failure was a “significant human error” and insisted all reviews must be transparent.

Expressing the importance of learning from such situations, Liverpool stated, “This is vital for the reliability of future decision-making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again.”

Liverpool ended up losing the match to Tottenham by a 2-1 scoreline. Cody Gakpo scored before half-time to cancel out Son Heung-Min’s opening goal. But in the sixth minute of injury-time, Joel Matip’s own goal handed Spurs all three points in north London.

It was Liverpool’s first loss of the season, dropping them to fourth in the Premier League.

Jurgen Klopp’s side will return to action on Thursday at home to Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League.