Liverpool Denied: KMI Panel Says Van Dijk Goal Should Have Stood

By James Whitfield

Virgil Van Dijk’s disallowed equaliser in Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat at Manchester City should have stood according to the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents panel (KMI), reports The Times.

Key Decision in Torrid Sunday for Reds

The Liverpool captain headed the ball into the back of the net from a corner but Andrew Robertson was in an offside position and interfering with goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma’s position and view according to Stuart Burt who put up his flag and given the offside decision after the away players started celebrating. 

As the phase of play ended, the assistant referee was certain that the goal should be disallowed.  

 

“Robertson,Robertson,Robertson” Said Burt. 

“Robertson’s in line of vision, right in front of the keeper. He’s ducked under the ball. He’s very very close to him. I think he’s line of vision. I think he’s been impacted mate”.  VAR official Michael Oliver then confirms the disallowed goal due to Robertson being in an offside position and ducking near to the Manchester City goalkeeper.  The decision was made without on field referee Chris Kavanagh going to his pitch side monitor and using that to decide if the Liverpool Vice Captain was impacting Donnarumma’s view. 

 

The KMI Panel is formed by three former players or coaches and one Premier League representative as well as someone from PGMOL. 

Having decided that the goal should have stood, the panel also said that VAR was correct to not intervene because the decision was considered an on-field objective offside interference call, and there was no “clear and obvious error” requiring reversal. 

Following the match, Liverpool contacted PGMOL over the decision and their chief Howard Webb thought that the correct decision was made when appearing on Match Officials Mic’d up. 

 

“When Van Dijk heads the ball forward, that’s the moment we have to make an offside judgment about Robertson and about what he’s doing there. We know he doesn’t touch the ball but what does he do”. Explained the former referee. 

“For sure as the ball moves towards him, three yards out from goal. Right in the middle of the six yard box, he makes that clear action to duck below the ball. The ball goes just below his head and the ball finds the goal in the half of the six yard box, where he is. 

“Then the officials have to make a judgment. Did that clear action impact Donnarumma, the goalkeeper and his ability to save the ball and that’s where the subjectivity comes into play”. 

The IFAB laws of the game states that: “A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched* by a team-mate is only penalised on becoming involved in active play by:

 

Interfering with play by playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate 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”. 

 

The goal would have made the score 1-1, instead it was a 3-0 defeat and Liverpool’s best way of turning the game around was vanished due to a lack of luck and a lot of subjectivity.