The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) mistakenly believed that the on-field decision had been to award Luis Diaz’s goal for Liverpool at Tottenham.
Darren England, who was on VAR duties, then told the referee to stick with the on-field decision, not knowing the goal was incorrectly disallowed for offside.
The PGMOL has since apologized, claiming that “a significant human error occurred” when Diaz’s strike was ruled out and “this was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention.”
It was initially believed that England had failed to check whether a Spurs defender had played Diaz onside by drawing the on-screen lines.
But, in a freshtwist, it has now emerged that the VAR incorrectly thought the on-field decision was that a goal had been awarded, when in fact it hadn’t been.
This resulted in England, despite realising that Diaz was onside, relaying a message of ‘check complete’ and the goal being ruled out.
Tottenham went on to defeat Liverpool thanks to a last-minute own goal scored by Joel Matip.