Club have accepted the defeat but want clarification over what they believe to be a poor refereeing decision
Liverpool have contacted the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) to express serious concerns over the decision to disallow Virgil van Dijk’s goal in Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
The incident occurred late in the first half when Van Dijk appeared to have levelled the game with a header from a corner, only for the goal to be ruled out after Andy Robertson, while standing in an offside position, was deemed to have obstructed City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma’s view.
The referee made the decision on-field, with the VAR official confirming the call after review.
The Premier League’s match centre later stated that Robertson was “deemed to be making an obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper,” referencing Law 11 of the game’s offside rules. However, Liverpool believe that interpretation was incorrect.
Club sources have said that after reviewing all available footage from multiple angles, Liverpool’s coaching and analysis teams concluded that Donnarumma’s line of sight was not blocked and that none of the conditions outlined in Law 11 for interfering with play were met.
The law states that a player in an offside position is only penalised if they are interfering with play, obstructing an opponent’s vision, challenging for the ball, or making an obvious action that affects an opponent’s ability to play the ball. Liverpool argue that Robertson did none of those things, as he ducked to avoid Van Dijk’s header and did not block Donnarumma’s view.
The club’s decision to contact Howard Webb, head of the PGMOL, was not an appeal over the result of the game but to ensure the incident receives formal review. Liverpool are understood to have accepted the defeat but want clarification on how the VAR process reached its conclusion.
