The audio recordings of discussions between the match officials around Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal against Tottenham have been made public.
Liverpool asked the Premier League for the audio after the controversy in the first half of their 2-1 defeat.
Video assistant referee Darren England did not overrule when Liverpool’s Diaz was wrongly flagged offside.
In the audio, England says the check is “perfect” before swearing when he realises a mistake has been made.
Following the incident in Saturday’s Premier League game, Liverpool said “sporting integrity has been undermined”.
In a statement on Sunday, the club said they will “explore the range of options available given the clear need for escalation and resolution”.
PGMOL, the governing body for referees, has said the decision to disallow the goal was “a significant human error”.
“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,” added PGMOL in a statement accompanying the release of the audio on Tuesday.
“He did this without any dialogue with the Assistant VAR (AVAR). 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.”
The full transcript of what the officials said
VAR: Possible offside Diaz
Assistant referee 1: Coming back for the offside mate
Assistant referee 2: Give it
VAR: Just checking the offside. Delay, delay
VAR: Give the kick point, let’s go. Kick point please
Referee: Yeah no worries mate
Replay operator: So here we are
Referee: Wait ok
Replay operator: Just get a tight angle
VAR: Yeah give me a 2D line ready after this one for frame two after that
Replay operator: So frame two there?
VAR: That’s fine
VAR: Perfect yeah
VAR: 2D line on 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. Yep ok.
VAR: And stop.
VAR: Check complete, check complete. That’s fine, perfect (showing Diaz is clearly onside). Off.
Referee: Cheers mate
VAR: Thank you mate
Referee. Well done boys. Good process (game restarts with a free-kick)
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 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 operative: Delay delay. Oli [PGMOL Hub Ops] 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 operative: Delay the game, to delay the game? Stop the game.
VAR: They’ve restarted the game
VAR: Can’t do anything, can’t do anything.
Assistant VAR: Yeah, they’ve restarted. Yeah
VAR: Can’t do anything.
Assistant VAR: no
VAR: I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything.
VAR: [expletive]
Monday Night Club: Rory Smith says VAR is ‘a real problem’ that needs to be reviewed
More to follow.
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