PGMOL said “significant human error” was behind Luis Diaz’s goal being ruled out for Liverpool at Tottenham; VAR team mistakenly thought on-field decision had been to award goal; Liverpool formally requested audio from officials after vowing to “explore the range of options available”
The audio of the conversations between the match officials involved in the VAR controversy during Liverpool’s defeat at Tottenham will be released.
In its efforts to be more transparent, the PGMOL are keen to share the dialogue that took place when Luis Diaz’s goal was incorrectly disallowed.
Liverpool have made a formal request to PGMOL for the audio to be released and want to hear the conversations which took place in full.
But while the release of the audio may be delayed by the ongoing review into what occured on Saturday, it is a case of when the audio is released, not if.
The review’s findings will first and foremost go to Liverpool.
The PGMOL have not ruled out releasing the audio around the incident before the next edition of Mic’d Up, the organisation’s new monthly programme broadcast on Sky Sports that includes previously unheard audio from decisions between on-field officials and the VAR team.
Why was Diaz’s goal incorrectly ruled out?
Dermot Gallagher said the decision to disallow Luis Díaz’s goal against Tottenham was a ‘very, very bad mistake’
The PGMOL admitted immediately after Tottenham’s 2-1 win that “a significant human error occurred” when Diaz’s strike was ruled out, adding: “This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention.”
The goal was ruled out when VAR official Darren England mistakenly believed Diaz’s goal was initially allowed to stand and told on-field referee Simon Hooper his check was complete.
Both England and his assistant VAR, Dan Cook, have been removed from matchday duties for this week.
In a statement released on Sunday night, Liverpool said “it is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined”.
The club added: “It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.
“In the meantime, we will explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution.”
Why didn’t the VAR team then stop the game?
Jamie Carragher gives his reaction to Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal for Liverpool in their defeat against Spurs after Dave Jones explains what happened on Saturday evening
It is thought that the VAR team realised their mistake within ten seconds of the game restarting with a Tottenham free-kick.
But with the game ‘live’ again, the VAR team felt unable to intervene.
The IFAB rules on VAR state play cannot be brought back in a case like this. Rule 10 says: “If play has stopped and been restarted, the referee may not undertake a ‘review’ except for a case of mistaken identity or for a potential sending-off offence relating to violent conduct, spitting, biting or extremely offensive, insulting and/or abusive action(s).”
However, the decision not to intervene and stop the game has been widely criticised.
According to Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Hooper was only told of the error at half-time.
Speaking on the show, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher said: “The bit where I’m really struggling is that they must know within two seconds because Tottenham have taken a free-kick, they haven’t kicked off.
“I’d be screaming at the referee that a mistake has been made but maybe they’re saying they have to wait until the ball goes out of play. They’re saying they stayed with protocol, that they’re not allowed to stop it but I don’t believe that. They panicked, they froze.
