Liverpool receive apology from the PGMOL after latest major VAR blunder incorrectly ruled out Luis Diaz’s opener in 2-1 defeat at Spurs as refereeing board put it down to a ‘significant human error’

• Diaz saw his strike ruled out for offside in the first half of Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat
• Replays showed Cristian Romero was playing him on and that has been proven
• Mail Sport’s new WhatsApp Channel: Get the breaking news and exclusives here 

PGMOL has admitted that Luis Diaz’s strike in the first half against Tottenham was incorrectly ruled out for offside.

Liverpool lost 2-1 to Ange Postecoglou’s side on Saturday evening after Joel Matip’s late own goal secured three points for the hosts after the Reds has seen both Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota sent off.

Liverpool were up against it for the majority of the game due to the dismissals, but nearly held on for a point with nine men in north London.

They pegged Tottenham back just before half time when Cody Gakpo struck to cancel out Son Heung-min’s opener, and many thought Diaz’s finish with the score at 0-0 was bizarrely ruled out for offside even after a VAR check.

That has now been acknowledged by the refereeing body in what is their latest statement in what has been a string of apologies. 

PGMOL has acknowledged that Luis Diaz’s goal against Tottenham was incorrectly ruled out

Diaz thought he had fired home to put Liverpool ahead in the first half only to see the flag raised by the assistant referee

The goal as ruled out despite replays clearing showing Diaz was being played onside by Cristian Romero

‘PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool,’ the statement began.

‘The goal but 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.’

Darren England was the man tasked with VAR duties for the match, with Dan Cook acting as assistant VAR.

The goal came about when Liverpool countered just moments after Jones was sent off. Mohamed Salah played through Diaz, who slotted home, but the goal was immediately flagged offside.

Replays seemed to show the forward was onside and that has now been confirmed by the refereeing body. 

Gary Neville slammed the decision on Sky Sports, saying: ‘We have the lines on the pitch. These groundspeople never get a line wrong. They are so accurate. Look at the lines on the pitch. 

beIN Sports drew their own lines on their broadcast to show how the goal should have stood

Tottenham eventually won the game when Joel Matip put through his own net deep into stoppage time

Gary Neville slammed the decision for being made ‘too quick’ when speaking on Sky Sports

‘I’ve defended VAR offsides as a matter of fact. There’s been a few I thought that’s not right. To me that one there… just no. It was all too quick. It was so quick. It wasn’t right. At the time I was like, OK let’s move on.

‘That is clearly Romero’s foot and Diaz’s shoulder. There’s only two players in shot. It’s almost now like what are they doing? They’re picking the wrong cameras to do the lines on… the wrong angles. It’s just weird! Something doesn’t feel right.’

Fellow Sky pundit Jamie Carragher posted on X: ‘Shocking mistake, but this is nothing to do with the drawing of lines. The VAR have missed the Spurs centre back & have gone off Diaz clearly ahead of the full back. 

‘This season when an offside has been obvious they have tried to speed it up by getting the game going quickly again & not drew the lines. An awful mistake to not see the Spurs defender with the outstretched leg.’

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, led the protests when speaking to Sky Sports after the game.

Although he was reluctant to criticise too heavily as it is ‘expensive’, he did express general frustrations at the quality of officiating in the league.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp expressed his anger at the decision following full time 

Klopp was angered by the decision at the time and said after the game that he knew the goal should have stood

‘On the pitch, never. We saw it. Never offside. Half-time first thing, they drew the lines wrong,’ he began.

‘I didn’t hear anything. Somebody opened the phone and Instagram, Twitter, someone put it on. It’s clear they drew the line wrong and didn’t judge the moment when Mo passed the ball. I’m pretty sure people will speak about that. 

He added: ‘What it does today is undermine other decisions. You start to undermine the process of offside. That is a really bad one. On the point of who does it help that Klopp said, I’m disappointed in that. 

‘A lot of people in football don’t say sorry and blame other people. The idea that the referees have come out and said I got it wrong, it’s human error, they admitted their mistake. You don’t get many players owning up, including myself. 

‘I don’t want to see someone lose their job but it’s a really bad one. I hope the person who has done it can get a couple of games off but can come back in. Liverpool fans cannot see that. I feel sorry for them! It’s me going soft after 11 years at Man United. 

‘You have to feel a degree of empathy. It undermines offsides. I was worried about offsides for a few weeks. I thought some things were not right.’

‘It’s so tough to deal with it. I really thought during the game we were really calm. It was difficult to deal with. You see that and think, OK, wow a red card? Next red card too? Today is a proper knock for us as we would have celebrated a point, now no point. That’s not cool. Performance is incredible. I loved that.

Mohamed Salah ‘liked’ a tweet proving the goal was onside on X – his first like since 2017

‘Who does that help? We had it in the Man United game. Did Wolves get points for it? We won’t. It doesn’t help. Nobody expects 100 per cent right decision on field. We thought VAR might make it easier. 

‘Why are they under that much pressure for the decision to be made really quick today? It changed the momentum. In a game where you don’t get a lot, that’s super important. It was super difficult.

When pushed on the error, he replied: ‘I will not follow on that path. It may be funny for you but for me it’s just expensive’, before leaving the interview.

Reds forward Salah, who was frustrated after setting up the strike, ‘liked’ a post on X proving the decision was wrong – his first like since 2017. 

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