There was another Video Assistant Referee offside-check fiasco in the Premier League during Chelsea’s win at Burnley, it has emerged.
Less than a week after the Liverpool offside-goal debacle sparked English football’s worst Var crisis – and the immediate adoption of new protocols to avoid a repeat – Saturday’s game at Turf Moor witnessed a similar episode.
Referee Stuart Atwell was told to stop the match after allowing it to restart before a Var review check of Raheem Sterling’s goal – which made it 3-1 – had been completed.
Unlike the Liverpool debacle, which saw Luis Diaz’s strike wrongly ruled out at Tottenham Hotspur the previous weekend, the check by Darren Bond correctly confirmed the on-field decision, averting an even bigger calamity.
Telegraph Sport has been told Atwell allowed Burnley to kick off after Sterling’s goal because he thought he had heard Bond tell him “check complete”, which would raise major questions about the effectiveness of new protocols announced on Tuesday to prevent such miscommunication.
The stopping of the game after it had restarted raised further questions about what the officials would have done had the check found Sterling to have been offside.
The laws of the game prevent goals being chalked off or awarded once play resumes, the particular rule for which was rigorously adhered to during the Spurs-Liverpool match.
A recording of the Diaz incident revealed last week how Var Darren England repeatedly insisted “can’t do anything” after the game had restarted following his own gaffe.
England and Assistant Var Dan Cook have played no part in Premier League matches since the debacle but Telegraph Sport has been told Professional Game Match Officials Limited does not view the Burnley-Chelsea incident as warranting similar action against Atwell or Bond.
It is now the international break and there are no Premier League fixtures for almost a fortnight.
