Jurgen Klopp has revealed the best way for the Premier League to undo the VAR error of disallowing the Luis Diaz goal against Tottenham last weekend. The German boss spoke about the issue after the release of the official VAR audio of the incident.
Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s Europa League tie against Union Saint Gilloise, Klopp stated that the only fair outcome of the incident should be a replay of the tie, however, he acknowledged that it won’t happen. He said: “It’s really important that as big as football is and important as football is we deal with it in a proper way.”
Klopp added: “Some people probably don’t want me to say, but not as the manager of Liverpool so much, more as a football person, the only outcome should be a replay. That’s how it is. It probably will not happen.” The fans and manager of Liverpool felt unjust after VAR ruled out Luis Diaz’s goal in the first half.
🚨 Klopp: “I think the only outcome for Tottenham-Liverpool game should be a replay”.
“It probably won’t happen. I think it is so unprecedented it didn’t happen before”. pic.twitter.com/bEICrcaaO9
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 4, 2023
The match’s momentum could have swung in favor of Liverpool after that goal, but instead, the tie turned on its head for the Reds, with Curtis Jones and Diego Jota taking red cards during the match. The match ended 2-1 in favor of Tottenham, leaving Liverpool on 16 points in 4th place in the table. Two points the league leaders Manchester City.
Over the years, Liverpool and Manchester City’s races in the Premier League have gone down to the wire. Jurgen Klopp and the fans of Liverpool fear that this incorrect decision might swing the favor of Manchester City again in another one of the nail-biting title races.
PGMOL released the official audio of the VAR incident of Liverpool vs. Tottenham
Jurgen Klopp commented on the issue after the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) released the official audio of the VAR team during the incident. The audio left the fans fuming at the incompetency shown by all the members involved in the process.
Luis Diaz’s goal was flagged offside by the linesman. The incident was referred to VAR where Darren England, as VAR, got confused and believed that the on-field call allowed the goal. The team checked the goal and told the on-field referee to stay with their call, instead of telling them to change their call to allow the goal.
Referees’ body PGMOL have released the full audio from the VAR hub relating to the Luis Diaz goal that was incorrectly disallowed in Spurs v Liverpool
➡️ https://t.co/3UGPAIrGW0 pic.twitter.com/8Ijj7JCaeo
— Premier League Communications (@PLComms) October 3, 2023
The goal was correctly checked but the main confusion was regarding the on-field call of the goal which led to this debacle. The incident got worse when Darren England and his assistant refused to stop the game and correct their mistake after the replay operated communicated the mistake.
The replay operator asked for the game to be stopped however, England said: “Can’t do anything,” five times before his assistant added: “They’ve restarted.”
The official audio drew more criticism from the fans and experts as the whole incident could have been avoided with some proper communication between the officials. The incident started a debate on the effectiveness of the VAR as it can be as effective as the officials operating it.
