The VAR audio from Luis Diaz’s incorrectly disallowed goal for Liverpool in their 2-1 loss to Tottenham on Saturday has been made public by the refereeing organization PGMOL.
Even though video plainly showed Diaz to be onside, an on-field decision to flag him offside was maintained by the video referee, angering Liverpool supporters.
Nine-man With Joel Matip’s own goal in the 96th minute, Liverpool went on to lose the game 2-1.
The VAR audio reveals that the confusion resulted from video ref Darren England thinking that Diaz had been declared onside when in fact it had not.
“Check, check, and check again. After determining Diaz to be outside the box, England tells referee Simon Hooper, “That’s fine, perfect,” and the game is restarted despite the Liverpool forward’s goal being incorrectly disallowed. The VAR crew then realizes their error, but it’s too late.
Full VAR audio of Diaz offside incident
Oli refers to Oli Kohout, the VAR Hub Operations executive
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: That’s fine. 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 this angle better? Happy with this angle?
VAR: Yep.
Replay operator: 2D line on the boot?
VAR: 2D line on the boot.
Replay operator: Yeah, 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, wait. The on-field decision was offside. Are you happy with this?
Assistant VAR: Yeah.
Replay operator: Are you happy with this?
Assistant VAR: Offside, goal, yeah. That’s wrong that, 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 is onside.
Assistant VAR: He’s played him, he’s gone offside.
VAR: Oh *expletive*
Replay operator: Delay, delay. Oli’s saying to delay, Oli’s saying to delay.
VAR: Pardon?
Replay operator: Oli’s calling in to say delay the game. The decision is onside.
VAR: 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, to delay the game? Stop the game.
VAR: They’ve restarted the game. Can’t do anything, can’t do anything.
Assistant VAR: Yeah, they’ve restarted. Yeah.
VAR: I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. *expletive*
How has PGMOL corrected the mistake?
PGMOL released the following statement: “As stated in a statement shortly after the final whistle on Saturday night, we admitted that a serious human error had occurred during the aforementioned match, which we recognize should have resulted in a goal being given by VAR intervention.
“The VAR staff scrutinized every facet of the goal, as they do in all goal scenarios. The checking phase and process began after the goal had been ruled offside by the on-field officials, and it was properly carried out by the VAR. The kick-point choice and placement of the single 2D line on the foot of the second-most rear defender were both precise.
Without the necessity for the addition of a second line, the picture produced demonstrated that Luis Diaz was unquestionably on the right side. The VAR accidentally confirmed the on-field judgment due to a momentary gap in focus and concentration. He miscommunicated “check complete” and lost sight of the on-field decision. He didn’t exchange words with the AVAR [assistant VAR] while doing this.
The game then instantly resumed. After a brief delay, the replay operator and then the AVAR questioned the check-complete result with the VAR and requested that he review the image that had been generated, pointing out that the original on-field decision had been offside but that this had never been made known to the on-field team throughout the game.
The VAR team then thought about whether the game could be stopped at that time, but the VAR and AVAR came to the conclusion that the VAR protocol and the rules of the game would not allow that to happen, and they decided intervention was not possible as play had already resumed.
The audio between the match officials on the field and the VAR team is provided here.
“PGMOL has reviewed the events that produced this incorrect result, and the lessons learned will be applied to reduce the risk of errors occurring in the future.”