Liverpool handed new referee verdict after controversial Man City resolution

Liverpool were denied a goal in their 3-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday night, with Virgil van Dijk’s header ruled out for offside

Dermot Gallagher has weighed in on whether Liverpool‘s goal against Manchester City should have been disallowed. Andy Robertson was judged to have obstructed Gianluigi Donnarumma’s view from an offside position when Virgil van Dijk equalised at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday evening.

The Scotland international, positioned a few yards ahead of the keeper, crouched down as his captain’s header flew into the top corner. The assistant referee raised his flag for offside, and the call was swiftly reviewed by the Video Assistant Referee, Michael Oliver.

He and his colleague, Timothy Wood, upheld the on-field decision, resulting in Van Dijk’s header being disallowed. An official comment from the Premier League Match Centre on social media declared that Robertson had made an ‘obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper’.

On Sky Sports’ Ref Watch programme, Gallagher suggested the verdict is ‘open to interpretation’. The ex-Premier League official said: “It is subjective without doubt, and it is a grey area because it’s all about the interpretation.

“Everybody sees things slightly different, and that’s why you can throw up an incident from last year or earlier this season and say, ‘Well, they made a different decision’. I don’t think there are hard and fast rules.”

Gallagher continued: “I’m not trying to defend Chris Kavanagh, but we shouldn’t hang him out to dry because he didn’t make the decision yesterday; that was made by the assistant. This was an on-field decision, which was no goal.

“So VAR looks and says, ‘is Robertson in an offside position? – yes. Is he impacting on the goalkeeper?’ – they obviously felt yes, because he was close. That’s why people are going, ‘it should be this or this’ and open to interpretation.”

Unlike Gallagher, Jay Bothroyd didn’t hesitate to draw a conclusion, claiming that the goal should have stood. The ex-Premier League striker said: “This should have been given as a goal.

“When you look at Donnarumma, he is coming across slightly to his right but then he pivots to the left, so that means he can see where the ball is going. Robertson has ducked but, if anything, the person who would be in his eye-line more is [Jeremy] Doku.

“‘A player making an action’ is in the rule. A player making an action, in my opinion, is if he moves towards the ball or he tries to make contact with the ball. Robertson has ducked.

“He’s made no effort to try to deflect the ball or get his head on it. He’s just got himself out the way of the ball. That’s why I think it should have been given and was a poor decision.”