Howard Webb, the chief of referees, has stated that measures have been implemented to prevent a recurrence of the VAR mistake that led to a valid Liverpool goal against Tottenham Hotspur being wrongly disallowed.
The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) acknowledged that VAR made an incorrect offside decision when Luis Diaz scored what should have been the initial goal in a 2-1 defeat 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.”
Webb explained that when the game had already resumed after the offside decision, it was too late for the referee to halt play, as both the VAR and his assistant had only recognized the mistake after the fact.
“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.”
