The two referees responsible for the calamitous error which cost the Reds on Saturday were taken off their other weekend games
The two VAR officials whose mistake cost Liverpool a perfectly good goal at Tottenham were out in the United Arab Emirates to take charge of a game just 48 hours before Saturday’s Premier League clash in north London, it has emerged.
According to The Independent, Darren England and Dan Cook travelled out to work on the UAE Pro League match between Al Ain and Sharjah on Thursday night and returned on a six-hour flight on Friday.
The VAR team told the referee Simon Hooper that their check was complete, believing the goal had originally been given to the Reds.
“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.
“PGMOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error.”
But Liverpool were not satisfied with that explanation and released a statement of their own on Sunday night in which they called the PGMOL response ‘unacceptable’, adding that they would we “explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution.”
