The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel are reported to have determined that Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed goal against Manchester City should have stood, but simultaneously ruled that VAR was right not to overrule the offside call.
Van Dijk thought he had tied the score up at 1–1 during last week’s meeting with City as he sent a first-half header soaring beyond Gianluigi Donnarumma, but the offside flag was soon raised and VAR officials determined that Reds left back Andy Robertson, who was undeniably stood in an offside position, was obstructing the vision of the City stopper.
After slumping to a miserable 3–0 defeat, Liverpool complained to the Premier League over the decision, highlighting the fact that Robertson was stood to the side of Donnarumma, rather than directly in his eye line. However, referee chief Howard Webb defended the decision to disallow the goal.
As part of their weekly review of refereeing decisions, the KMI panel took a look at Van Dijk’s disallowed header and The Times report it was decided that it was a mistake from the officials to rule out the goal.
The panel, made up of three former players or coaches, one person from the Premier League and one from the PGMOL, ultimately deemed that Robertson, while in an offside position, did not have a sufficient impact on Donnarumma to justify the offside call.
While Liverpool may feel somewhat validated by the decision, the KMI panel also came to the conclusion that VAR was right not to intervene or encourage the on-field officials to change their decision.
As Webb acknowledged in his analysis, the issue was not as simple as determining whether Robertson was offside. There was no dispute of the Scotland international’s position behind City’s last defender, but whether he was obstructing Donnarumma was a purely subjective call.
VAR is there to address “clear and obvious” errors, rather than overrule the opinions of officials in real time. Since Robertson was stood in an offside position and the referees believed he was involved in the passage of play, VAR declined to intervene.
Seeing the goal disallowed came as a huge blow to Liverpool, who would have hoped to build momentum through what would have been an equaliser, but there could be few complaints about the final result as a dominant City performance condemned Liverpool to their fifth defeat of the Premier League season.
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