Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk has seemingly endorsed Gary Lineker’s remarks about VAR sucking the life out of the game after a Manchester United goal was disallowed.
Edinson Cavani thought he had put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side ahead at Tottenham Hotspur when he fired the ball past Hugo Lloris from a tight angle but his effort was ruled out after Scott McTominay was adjudged to have caught Son Heung-Min in the face during the build-up.
Despite being a former Spurs player himself, Lineker tweeted: “You have got to be kidding” which he followed up with “It’s extraordinary how ludicrous VAR has become. Not only with their many errors but that it sucks the life out of the game. The joy of celebrating, which is what makes football so special, has been completely diluted.”
Despite it being Liverpool’s old foes Manchester United who fell foul of the technology on this occasion, Van Dijk appeared to concur with Lineker’s remarks by ‘liking’ his tweet.
The Dutchman has been missing from Jurgen Klopp’s side through injury since damaging the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in a challenge from Jordan Pickford in the 2-2 draw with Everton at Goodison Park in October.
That incident was also reviewed by VAR at the time but the goalkeeper escaped punishment because despite sliding into Van Dijk, the play had already been stopped for an offside decision.
The officials could still have sent Pickford off, but later admitted they had been distracted with the offside call.
