Liverpool release statement slamming VAR error against Tottenham

Liverpool have released a statement saying that ‘sporting integrity has been undermined’ after VAR’s inability to give Luis Diaz’s goal onside in Saturday’s loss at Tottenham.

After Curtis Jones was sent off, Luis Diaz put the ball in the back of the net to make it 1-0 but his goal was wrongly disallowed for offside.

PGMOL released a statement after the game confirming that a ‘human error’ had been committed.

The Reds, who were down to nine men as Diogo Jota received two yellow cards, conceded a last-minute goal to lose the game 2-1 as Joel Matip sliced the ball into his own net.

The statement released on Sunday evening reads: “Liverpool Football Club acknowledges PGMOL’s admission of their failures last night. It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.

“We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR.

“It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.

“That such failings have already been categorised as ‘significant human error’ is also unacceptable. Any and all outcomes should be established only by the review and with full transparency.

“This is vital for the reliability of future decision-making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again.”