VAR expert breaks down why Luis Diaz’s goal was disallowed, it’s an absolute shocker

A VAR expert has explained how Luis Diaz's first-half goal against Tottenham was chalked of for offside in a damning assessment of the officials.

VAR did not cover itself in glory on Saturday afternoon, with a number of contentious decisions angering both Liverpool fans and Jurgen Klopp at full-time.

Despite going down to 10 men early in the game, after Curtis Jones was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle on Yves Bissouma, Diaz looked to have put the Reds in front when he beat Guglielmo Vicario with a cool finish.

However, the assistant was quick to raise his flag and the goal was ruled out for offside, without the intervention of VAR - or so it seemed.

ESPN's Dale Johnson has since explained how officials came to such a decision, after the PGMOL subsequently confirmed it was in fact onside, and that the goal should have stood.

Taking to Twitter to help make sense of the decision, Johnson wrote: "So the VAR, Darren England, checked offside thinking the onfield decision was 'goal'.

"It was a quick offside check because it was clear Diaz was onside, so he told the referee 'check complete'. In telling the ref "check complete" he is saying the onfield decision was correct.

"So the 'human error' by the VAR team is getting the onfield decision wrong. Not by failing to draw lines etc. The lines were drawn and Diaz was clearly onside.

"The huge, quite unbelievable error was misunderstanding the onfield decision.

"As soon as Spurs take the free-kick for the offside, which they were set up for, the decision cannot be rolled back. Can only imagine the VAR room when that free-kick was taken."

The PGMOL released an official statement on Sunday, admitting that their decision was incorrect.

It read: "PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool," they said in a statement.

"The goal by Luis Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials. This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene.

"PGMOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error.

"PGMOL will immediately be contacting Liverpool at the conclusion of the fixture to acknowledge the error."

Topics: Football, Liverpool, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, VAR, Luis Diaz

Joe Adams

Joe is a Journalist for SPORTbible with a primary focus on football. He has previously covered a number of other sports including boxing, rugby and F1. Wishes he was born left-footed.

@joeadamsjourno