Liverpool manager Arne Slot has slammed what he felt was a “clear wrong decision” to disallow Virgil van Dijk’s goal in Sunday’s defeat to Manchester City.
After Erling Haaland headed City ahead, Van Dijk thought he had tied things up with a header of his own seven minutes before the interval, only for the on-field officials to notice left back Andy Robertson standing in an offside position as the ball sailed towards Gianluigi Donnarumma’s goal.
A quick VAR check did not overrule the decision and it was later confirmed that the offside call was validated because Robertson was deemed to be “directly in front” of Donnarumma. Replays showed the Scot, while in an offside position, was clearly to the left of the Italian’s line of sight.
Having missed out on the momentum that would have come with an equaliser, Liverpool went on to fall to a 3–0 defeat to Pep Guardiola’s rampant side, after which Slot did not hide his frustration towards the incident.
“It is difficult to give my view,” Slot reflected. “It is obvious and clear that the wrong decision has been made, at least in my opinion.
“He [Robertson] didn’t interfere at all with what the goalkeeper could do. Immediately after the game, someone showed me the goal that the same referee allowed—City against Wolves last season.
“So it took the linesman 13 seconds to raise his flag to say it was offside. So there was clearly communication, but as I said, that could have influenced the game in a positive way for us.”
Van Dijk: No Point Discussing Disallowed Goal
Van Dijk was asked for his own comment on the decision, but the Dutchman was reluctant to find himself in the headlines as he instead focused on the disappointing nature of the game’s result.
“In football the officials are deciding the key decisions and we have to deal with it on the pitch,” Van Dijk said. “There is no point discussing this from my point of view. The reality is that we lost 3–0 and that is a big blow.
“It doesn’t matter what I say [about the goal] because anything I say will be in the media and the whole international break will be about my comment on the decision. I just focus on the fact we lost. You guys can debate if it should have stood.”
The disallowed goal came at the end of a week in which Van Dijk had been a regular feature in the media cycle. The centre back took issue with criticism of his leadership from the increasingly outspoken Wayne Rooney in a saga which saw the pair come face to face on TV and the former Manchester United striker apologise for his comments.
Rooney: ‘Van Dijk Goal Should Have Stood’
Rooney offered some rare sympathy for Liverpool after the defeat, agreeing with Slot that it was the wrong decision to disallow Van Dijk’s goal.
“I don’t think [Robertson] has affected [Donnarumma] at all, when you look at it,” Rooney told BBC’s Match of the Day.
“Robertson is in an offside position but Van Dijk, good movement, really good header and Donnarumma can see the ball, we know he can see the ball the whole way and Robertson is to the side of him.
“Donnarumma is outstretched, he has a full dive, there’s no affect from Robertson on that goal for me.
“Donnarumma puts all his weight on his right foot which makes it hard for him to get back across the goal but he dives as soon as Van Dijk heads the ball and he’s on his way, he’s diving and it’s a really good header, the goal should’ve stood to me.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Arne Slot, Virgil van Dijk Slam ‘Obvious’ Referee Error in Man City Defeat.
