Jamie Carragher has called for a rule change after Liverpool were wrongly denied a first-half goal from Luis Diaz against Tottenham. The winger appeared to have scored the opening goal in north London but it was cruelly chalked off after the linesman ruled that he was offside, with VAR appearing to agree with the on-field decision.
Following Curtis Jones’ early red card, Liverpool appeared to gain the lead against Spurs in the 34th minute when Diaz broke free down the right and fired a fierce strike into the far corner past Guglielmo Vicario. However, after the linesman lifted his flag, a brief VAR check saw play continue from the free-kick and Spurs capitalised just two minutes later through Son Heung-min.
Replays showed that Diaz had actually managed to hold his run perfectly, with Tottenham defender Cristian Romero’s outstretched back leg keeping him onside. Viewers were left baffled by the decision given that the image showing that the traditional lines had been drawn was not broadcast, and PMGOL later apologised for the error and ruled that the goal should have stood.
According to ESPN, VAR’s Darren England checked the decision thinking that the goal was given by the on-field officials, therefore his ruling of ‘check complete’ was supposed to be him approving Diaz’s opener. The customary lines are said to have been drawn and the Liverpool forward was ‘clearly onside’, but the error could not be rectified because the mistake was realised after Spurs had taken the free-kick for offside.
Once the ball is back in play, VAR cannot intervene – and Carragher has written on X (Twitter) about how that rule should be changed as soon as possible. The ex-Reds star explained: “It’s a horrendous mistake, no matter how they did it.
“But if they knew just after the Spurs free kick was taken that they’d made a huge mistake, it’s nonsense they can’t bring it back just because a free kick has been taken.”
