After 38 minutes, Virgil van Dijk thought he had drawn the visitors level at the Etihad – but the effort was ruled out by VAR Michael Oliver.
Andy Robertson, who was in an offside position, was believed to have taken a ‘clear and obvious action’ for City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma after the official VAR audio was released by the PGMOL this evening.
That’s quite a controversial statement when the angles clearly show that Donnarumma didn’t have his vision hampered by Robertson and saw Van Dijk’s efforts at all.
Speaking tonight on Match Officials’ Mic’d Up show (via BBC Sports), Premier League chief referee Howard Webb said it was ‘not unreasonable’ for the goal to be ruled out – in comments that will not necessarily surprise Kopites.
“Interfering with an opponent where the player in an offside position does not play the ball and the referees have to judge whether that player’s actions affect an opponent are some of the most subjective decisions we have to make.” Webb said.
“Therefore, it is no surprise that some people believe this goal should have stood, so I think it is important that we look at the facts of what actually happened in this situation.
“We know the corner comes in and the ball reaches Van Dijk. As the ball crosses the penalty area, the Manchester City players move out, leaving Robertson in an offside position in the heart of the six-yard box.”
“When Van Dijk heads the ball forward, that is the moment when we have to make an offside judgment about Robertson and what he is doing there.
“We know he’s not touching the ball, but what is he doing? Well, as the ball is moving towards him, three meters from goal, right in the middle of the six-yard box, he makes that clear action to dive under the ball.”
“The ball goes just over his head and the ball finds the target in half of the six-yard area he is in. Then the referees have to make a judgment – has that clear action affected Donnarumma, the goalkeeper, and his ability to save the ball? And that’s where the subjectivity comes into play.”
“That’s clearly the conclusion they drew from that. They looked at that position, they looked at that action, so close to the goalkeeper, and they formed that opinion.”
“I know this isn’t everyone’s opinion, but I think it’s not unreasonable to understand why they would come to that conclusion.
“The player is so close to the goalkeeper, the ball is coming straight at him and he has to duck to get out of the way of the ball – and they come to the conclusion that that affects Donnarumma’s ability to just dive for the ball and make that save.
“And once they’ve made that decision on the pitch, it’s of course the VAR’s job to look at that and decide: was the offside outcome clearly and patently wrong?
“Only Donnarumma really knows if he has been affected by this and of course we have to look at the factual evidence. When we see that factual evidence of that position of the player ducking under the ball, so close to the goalkeeper, the VAR determines that the offside outcome is not clear and patently wrong and they stay out.”
On Monday, Liverpool contacted the PGMOL to express their dissatisfaction over the reasons why Van Dijk’s goal against Manchester City was disallowed on Sunday.
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