PGMOL finally release audio from VAR blunder in Liverpool's defeat to Tottenham
Referees’ governing body PGMOL have at last released the audio from Saturday’s VAR blunder that saw Liverpool have a goal wrongly disallowed for offside in their 2-1 defeat to Tottenham and will put in place measures to avoid it happening again.
The Merseysiders thought they had taken the lead in north London shortly after being reduced to 10 men when Mohamed Salah slipped in Luis Diaz, who finished expertly into the far bottom corner.
However, the Colombian’s celebrations were cut short by the linesman’s flag and after a very quick VAR check play restarted with a free-kick to Spurs – who went on to win the match 2-1 thanks to a late own goal from Joel Matip.
It very quickly became apparent that a mistake had occurred with replays clearly showing that Diaz was in an onside position when Salah released the ball, with PGMOL confirming after the match that a ‘significant human error’ had taken place.
Reports soon emerged that VAR Darren England had incorrectly thought the on-field decision had been a goal, so when he said ‘check complete’ he was confirming that Diaz was onside – but the on-pitch officiating team took that to mean that their original call of offside was correct.
When play restarted with a Tottenham free-kick, the VAR team were no longer able to intervene.
Liverpool were furious with the error and issued a strongly worded statement on Sunday evening saying they would explore options to ‘escalate and resolve’ the matter, before demanding to hear the audio.
PGMOL gave Liverpool access to the VAR audio on Tuesday afternoon and have now released the clip to the public, with the audio revealing how the blunder occurred – and the panic and dismay that arose in the VAR room when they realised the mistake.
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The transcript in full
*The on-field referee does not hear all of the audio from the VAR room – only those comments directed to him
Assistant Referee 1: Waiting. Delaying, delaying.
VAR: Possible offside, Diaz.
Assistant Referee 2: Give it
Assistant Referee 1: Coming back for the offside, mate.
VAR: Just checking the offside. Delay, delay. Give the kick point, let’s go. Kick point please?
Referee: Yeah, no worries mate.
Replay Operator: So, here we are. Just get a tight angle.
VAR: Yeah, give me 2D line ready after this one for frame two after that.
Replay Operator: So frame two there?
VAR: Perfect, yeah. 2D line on the left boot.
Replay Operator: Let me just switch angles.
VAR: Romero, I think it is?
Replay Operator: I think it might be better with this angle. Happy with this angle?
VAR: Yep.
Replay Operator: 2D line on the boot?
VAR: 2D line on the boot.
Replay Operator: Yep, OK. So 2D line on the boot.
VAR: And stop. Check complete, check complete. That’s fine, perfect.
Assistant Referee 1: Playing.
Referee: Cheers mate.
VAR: Thank you mate.
Referee: Well done boys, good process.
Replay Operator: Wait, wait, wait. The on-field decision was offside. Are you happy with this?
VAR: Yeah…
Assistant VAR: Offside, goal, yeah.
Assistant VAR: That’s wrong, Daz.
VAR: What?
Replay Operator: On-field decision was offside. Are you happy with this image? Yeah it’s onside. The image that we gave them was onside.
VAR: Oh ****.
Replay Operator: Delay, delay. Oli [PGMOL Hub Ops] is saying to delay.
VAR: Pardon?
Replay Operator: Oli’s calling in to say delay the game. The decision is onside.
VAR: We can’t do anything.
Replay Operator: Oli’s saying to delay. Oli’s saying to delay.
VAR: Oli?
Fourth official: Yeah?
Replay Operator: Delay the game, delay the game. Stop the game.
VAR: They’ve restarted the game. Can’t do anything.
Assistant VAR: Yeah, they’ve restarted. Yeah.
VAR: Can’t do anything.
Assistant VAR: Yeah.
VAR: I can’t do anything, I can’t do anything.
VAR: *expletive*
-ENDS-
In addition to the audio, PGMOL also provided the following information and explanation regarding the events: ‘As stated shortly after the full-time whistle on Saturday evening, we acknowledged in a statement that a significant human error had occurred during the aforementioned match, which we recognise should have resulted in a goal being awarded through VAR intervention.
‘As with all goal situations, the VAR team checked every aspect of the goal. After the on-field officials had disallowed the goal for offside, the checking phase and process started and was carried out correctly by the VAR. The kick-point selection was accurate and the use of a single 2D line on the foot of the second rear-most defender was also correctly positioned.
‘The image created showed that Luis Diaz was clearly onside, without the need for the insertion of a second line. In a lapse of concentration and loss of focus in that moment, the VAR lost sight of the on-field decision and he incorrectly communicated “check complete”, therefore inadvertently confirming the on-field decision. He did this without any dialogue with the AVAR [Assistant VAR].
‘The match then restarted immediately. After a few seconds, the Replay Operator and then the AVAR queried the check-complete outcome with the VAR and asked him to review the image that had been created, pointing out that the original on-field decision had been offside, but this was not communicated to the on-field team at any point during the match.
‘The VAR team then gave consideration as to whether the game could be stopped at that point, however the VAR and AVAR concluded that the VAR protocol within the Laws of the Game would not permit that to happen, and they decided intervention was not possible as play had restarted.
‘PGMOL has carried out a review into the circumstances which led to this incorrect outcome and the subsequent learnings will be implemented to mitigate the risk of errors occurring in the future.’
PGMOL have completed their review of the blunder and submitted their findings to the Premier League and they will now take measures to ensure such a mistake cannot happen again in the future.
The statement continued: ‘The review of the on-field and VAR decision-making processes and application of the decision-making principles has identified the following key learnings to mitigate against the risk of a future error:
‘Guidance to Video Match Officials has always emphasised the need for efficiency, but never at the expense of accuracy. This principle will be clearly reiterated.
‘A new VAR Communication Protocol will be developed to enhance the clarity of communication between the referee and the VAR team in relation to on-field decisions.
‘As an additional step to the process, the VAR will confirm the outcome of the VAR check process with the AVAR before confirming the final decision to the on-field officials.’
VAR Darren England and assistant Dan Cook have also been stood down from next weekend’s Premier League fixtures and both PGMOL and the FA will review their policy on allowing officials to referee overseas – outside of UEFA and FIFA matches – after it emerged the pair had officiated in the UAE just 48 hours prior to the Tottenham-Liverpool match.
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