Liverpool say “sporting integrity has been undermined” by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) error in their 2-1 defeat by Spurs.
In a statement, the club have said they will “explore the range of options available”.
VAR failed to overturn an incorrect decision to disallow a Luis Diaz goal for offside with the match still goalless.
The VAR officials were stood down from duty for the rest of the weekend.
The governing body for referees, PGMOL, admitted that VAR official Darren England and assistant Dan Cook failed to act after Diaz’s 34th-minute strike at Tottenham was wrongly ruled out for offside.
Still images of the incident showed Tottenham defender Cristian Romero clearly playing Diaz onside.
The disallowed goal came with the match still goalless, but with the Reds down to ten men after Curtis Jones had been controversially sent off following England’s intervention.
It is understood that referees’ chief Howard Webb has spoken to Liverpool about the incident, while a PGMOL statement after the game admitted “a significant human error occurred”.
It added: “The goal by Luiz Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials. This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene.”
The officials were stood down from duty for the rest of the weekend but Liverpool insist they will continue to pursue the matter.
Their statement continued: “Liverpool Football Club acknowledges PGMOL’s admission of their failures last night. It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.
“We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR.
“It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.
“That such failings have already been categorised as ‘significant human error’ is also unacceptable. Any and all outcomes should be established only by the review and with full transparency.
“This is vital for the reliability of future decision making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again.
“In the meantime, we will explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution.”
Cook, England and Michael Oliver, who was the fourth official at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, were also part of a match officiating team who took charge of a league game in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
The Football Association had approved the trip and the trio arrived in London on Friday to prepare for Saturday’s game. **Liverpool also want this looked at as part of PGMOL’s review.
More to follow.
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