(Reuters) – Referees chief Howard Webb said steps have been taken to ensure there is no repeat of the VAR error that saw a legitimate Liverpool goal against Tottenham Hotspur disallowed.
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The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) admitted that VAR got the offside decision wrong when Luis Diaz scored what should have been the opening goal in a 2-1 loss for the Anfield side.
Diaz was onside but PGMOL said the goal was chalked off as VAR had “lost sight of the on-field decision” and incorrectly communicated “check complete”.
“Having seen what happened in Spurs vs Liverpool we analysed the situation, we had a look at what we can do better to put some safeguards in place,” Webb told Match Officials: Mic’d Up.
“We worked hard over the subsequent days to look at what we needed to do to put in those safeguards around the communication to avoid that sort of thing happening.”
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When asked why the referee could not stop the game after play had restarted, Webb said that by the time the VAR and his assistant had realised the mistake it was too late to intervene.
“They recognised that the laws of the game, set by FIFA and the (soccer’s rule making body) IFAB, doesn’t allow that,” Webb added.
“There’s obviously a process in place that sits in the laws of the game… And it doesn’t allow you to go back in those circumstances.”
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(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)