Toti Gomes goal disallowed after VAR couldn't see angle of offside decision
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Wolverhampton Wanderers had a goal disallowed goal against Liverpool in the FA Cup third round, after VAR couldn't make the decision.
After a hammering at the hands of Brentford earlier in the week, which left Jurgen Klopp extremely annoyed at the refereeing, Liverpool knew they needed a big performance on Saturday night.
After a good start at Anfield, against Wolves, the cup holders suddenly found themselves behind thanks to some atrocious goalkeeping from Alisson Becker.
They were level before half time through the unpredictable Darwin Nunez, after a peach of a cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold gave the striker a great chance.
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It took them just seven minutes of the second half before Mohamed Salah put them ahead once again, firing brilliantly into the goal with his left foot from Cody Gakpo's ball, on debut.
Wolves fans were fuming about the decision to allow the goal, believing that Salah should have been given offside but Toti Gomes' interruption allowed the forward to be onside.
Hwang Hee-chan levelled things up with 24 minutes to go, with Alisson perhaps to blame once again, as he failed to react to the situation quickly enough.
However, there was more controversy as the visitors felt they had sprung a big shock in the 82nd minute when Gomes knocked the ball into the goal from close range following a corner.
The offside flag went up, but no one was sure who against, VAR checked the goal and eventually kept it at offside but still no one could see who was offside.
Following full time, the ITV commentators and pundits revealed that it was due to no camera angle being able to pick up whether or not corner taker Matheus Nunes was offside when the ball was played back to him.
With no way of knowing if the decision was correct or not, it meant that the referee had to stick to the original decision made by the assistant referee.
"The benefit of the doubt should go to Toti, it shouldn't go to Salah" - Eni Aluko 🗣
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) January 7, 2023
Mo Salah put Liverpool in front whilst standing in an offside position but the goal stood as Toti was judged to have deliberately played the ball... #ITVFootball pic.twitter.com/ajIp3nzckm
Fans couldn't quite what they were hearing about the lack of an angle to determine if it was offside or onside, and they weren't the only ones.
Speaking after the match, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said of the decision, "I'm not sure about their third goal. We have one picture where it may look offside, but I can understand why they are angry about it.
"We don't want the VAR to just have one angle."
The decision not to allow the goal meant the game ended 2-2, with the sides now heading for a replay at Molineux in around 10 days time, which Klopp won't be too pleased about.
Wolves boss Lopetegui understandably wasn't happy, saying, "The offside that we had. We have seen it, the offside doesn't exist, I'm sorry. It's impossible. Someone has told him it's offside, but we've seen the images, it doesn't exist. Two touches are our players, and the second touch he doesn't want.
"The decision is wrong. I make mistakes every day, and sometimes they do too. Today we have the help of VAR, and it is a pity, because I'm sorry, it's not offside."
VAR's inability to make it 100% sure that Nunes was offside was reminiscent of a decision that went against Juventus in Serie A earlier in the season.
They also felt they'd gone 3-2 up, against Salernitana, having been 2-0 down earlier in the game, only for their last minute goal to be disallowed.
The angle of the camera meant it somehow missed Antonio Candreva keeping all the Old Lady attacking players onside by quite some distance.
The FA Cup doesn't even have VAR in action in all the grounds, with only those in the Premier League fitted with the cameras.
Featured Image Credit: ITV
Topics: Liverpool, Wolverhampton Wanderers, VAR, FA Cup
