PGMO contacted by Liverpool after Van Dijk goal fracas as club do not believe Robertson impeded Donnarumma.
Liverpool contact PGMO over Van Dijk’s disallowed goal at Manchester City.
Concerned that the pertinent requirements were not fulfilled, Liverpool has lodged a complaint with Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) on the decision to deny Virgil van Dijk’s header against Manchester City on Sunday.
In the 38th minute, with City ahead 1-0, Van Dijk’s shot was disallowed. Video assistance referee Michael Oliver supported referee Chris Kavanagh’s on-field ruling. Andy Robertson, a defender for Liverpool, was “in an offside position and deemed to be making an obvious action directly in front of the custodian” as he dodged Van Dijk’s header as it flew past Gianluigi Donnarumma, according to the VAR.
Liverpool disputes that interpretation and doesn’t think Robertson had an impact on the City goalkeeper’s field of vision. The club has approached Howard Webb, the president of the refereeing body, to contest the decision because they are perplexed that VAR did not allow the goal to stand. Liverpool does not think that Robertson’s actions fall under the provisions of Law 11.
Law 11 states that a player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played is only penalised on becoming involved in active play by: “Interfering with play by playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a teammate, or interfering with an opponent by: preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision, or challenging an opponent for the ball or clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball.”
Arne Slot maintained that Kavanagh had made a glaring mistake, but he refused to attribute his team’s 3-0 loss in the 1,000th game of Pep Guardiola’s managing career to the dispute.
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 for City against Wolves last season [when Bernardo Silva was in an offside position close to the goalkeeper as John Stones scored with a header].