Dermot Gallagher makes his feelings clear after 'corrupt' VAR Liverpool claim

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has explained the VAR decisions involving Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister in Sunday's dramatic 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has offered his opinion(Image: Sky Sports)

Alexis Mac Allister's disallowed effort during Liverpool's 1-0 win against Nottingham Forest was rightly ruled out – and his actual goal rightly stood.

That's the view of former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher, who has delivered his assessment on the two contentious decisions at the conclusion of Sunday's thrilling encounter at the City Ground.

Forest controlled the opening 45 minutes and appeared to have secured a point until Ola Aina's clearance struck Liverpool midfielder Mac Allister and deflected into the net. Following a VAR check, the goal was chalked off, and while Mac Allister labelled it "harsh" in his post-match comments, Gallagher informed Sky Sports that it was the correct decision.

Former Liverpool forward John Aldridge went so far as to describe the ruling as "corrupt" on X.

Gallagher said: "It [the law] was [correctly applied], and you feel for anybody in this situation because he's just gone to block the ball, it strikes his elbow, but it went in.

"I saw one replay, I went, 'Oh, this is going to be disallowed on the replay.' I saw immediately it struck his elbow and said, 'There's no doubt it's going to be disallowed' - because the minute the VAR sees that it's going to be handball. He is so, so unlucky, but it would be the same with any player; it's not just Mac Allister, any player that does that, it's always going to be disallowed."

Alexis Mac Allister scored the winner on Sunday(Image: Getty Images)

Gallagher proceeded to justify the regulation preventing goals scored via any contact with the hand or arm. He added: "I think it was brought in because a goal was scored at Burnley by the Arsenal center-half, wasn't it?

"It went in off his arm, and everybody said, 'This isn't right, it can't happen.' So I think people accept that if it hits your arm or your hand and it goes in the net, it'll be disallowed. It's also acceptable, isn't it? We don't want to see a goal scored with a hand."

Additional controversy emerged shortly afterwards when Virgil van Dijk's header was kept out by Stefan Ortega, but Mac Allister was positioned to force home what proved to be the decisive goal.

Forest believed Hugo Ekitike was in an offside position when the delivery reached van Dijk – former striker Jay Bothroyd suggested Ekitike was impacting the defensive line – while others protested it arrived eight minutes into stoppage time.

Gallagher explained: "I was at pains to explain this to somebody last night who was raging about when it happened, and I said, 'But Mac Allister's first goal that was disallowed, that's where the time came from.' It was a justifiable extension to the added time.

"We had this at West Ham in the midweek fixtures, a couple of weeks ago, it's cleared him by so much that he doesn't impact, it's complex, and that that's why I think the assistants and referees when they pool their resources about offside, I think they do a great job because it isn't easy, it's the most technical law of all, isn't it, offside?

"I actually think it's better now. If you think back to when I refereed, offside was offside, and players like that were always given offside, it was goals disallowed, and people didn't want it, people said, 'Well, are they really impacting?'

"I think it's a lot better we see more goals, we see more excitement, and do defenders really get that bothered about it? I don't think so. If you look at that, Forest just reset for the game, didn't they? The manager was fuming; they had lost a goal at such a late time."