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Former Premier League referee Chris Foy has given his verdict on the contentious decision to disallow Virgil van Dijk's goal during Liverpool's 3-0 loss to Manchester City, stating there was "not a clear and obvious error."
The Reds thought they had levelled the score after Erling Haaland put City ahead, when Van Dijk nodded in Mohamed Salah's corner. However, celebrations were cut short as assistant referee Stuart Burt flagged Andy Robertson for obstructing Gianluigi Donnarumma's view from an offside position.
Despite VAR reviewing the incident, it was decided that Burt's call was correct and the goal was disallowed, leading to visible frustration from the Liverpool players and their manager, Arne Slot.
In fact, Slot expressed his anger in his post-match press conference, insisting it was "obvious" the "wrong decision" was made.
On Monday, Liverpool reached out to Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) chief Howard Webb to voice "concerns" about the disallowed goal.
The Reds communicated to the referees' organization that they reject the notion that the decision to rule out the goal was subjective.
Now, former Premier League official Foy has shared his perspective.
While he admitted he would have preferred Van Dijk's goal to stand, he didn't believe there was a clear and obvious blunder. "The decision is massively subjective, in my opinion, but not a clear and obvious error," Foy told The Guardian.
Foy added: "When the ball is headed by Van Dijk, Robertson is standing almost in front of the goalkeeper. He then shifts to his left, shifts forward and, with the ball about to strike him, he ducks out of the way and the ball ends up in the net.
"The goal is disallowed on field, because the flag went up, but as we know when goals are scored they are automatically checked by VAR.
"To be in an offside position is not an offence in itself; it only matters when you become involved in active play.
"Robertson was penalized because he was deemed to have made an obvious action that impacted the ability of an opponent, in this case Gianluigi Donnarumma, to play the ball.
"You can't say for sure whether or not Donnarumma would have got the ball and for the video assistant referee, Michael Oliver, to overturn the on-field call he has to have clear evidence that Donnarumma was not impacted.
"For a VAR intervention you need clear evidence to overturn a decision, and there wasn't any."
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