VAR audio released from Liverpool’s disallowed goal by Luis Diaz in defeat at Spurs

Officials made a mistake during the Liverpool vs Tottenham match. They wrongly disallowed Luis Diaz’s goal. Even though VAR was used, it failed to correct the wrong offside call. The officials in charge of VAR admitted their error.

The VAR audio of Luis Diaz’s goal for Liverpool, which was wrongly disallowed against Tottenham, has been released by the PGMOL. The replay operator was the only person who immediately noticed the mistake and urged the officials to stop the game.

Diaz’s goal was initially disallowed for offside, but upon review, it was clear that he was actually onside.

Darren England, the VAR, thought the goal had been given and informed the referee, Simon Hooper, that the review was finished.

England and the assistant VAR made a mistake in not awarding a goal, even though they were alerted by the replay operator. They claimed they couldn’t intervene because the game had already restarted.

“Can’t do anything,” said England as the replay operator asked for the game to be stopped.

In an increasingly-frantic exchange, the unnamed replay operator says: “Oli’s calling in to say delay the game. The decision is onside”.

The person mentioned as “Oli” is Oli Kohout, who works as the VAR Hub Operations executive.

The audio from the fourth official, Michael Oliver, is not in the clip.

England and Cook were unable to stop the game, and they realized that nothing could be done as the replay operator tried to intervene. Eventually, the game restarted.

Hooper wasn’t given any more information. It was found out that Hooper was told about the mistake during halftime.

The PGMOL admitted that they did not meet expectations and acknowledged that a report with key learnings and actions has been shared with the Premier League and Liverpool FC, as well as other Premier League clubs.

According to the PGMOL, those key learnings include:

• Guidance to Video Match Officials has always emphasised the need for efficiency, but never at the expense of accuracy. This principle will be clearly reiterated
• A new VAR Communication Protocol will be developed to enhance the clarity of communication between the referee and the VAR team in relation to on-field decisions
• As an additional step to the process, the VAR will confirm the outcome of the VAR check process with the AVAR before confirming the final decision to the on-field officials

There has been a lot of criticism regarding the decision to allow England and Cook to officiate a match in the United Arab Emirates just 48 hours before the Tottenham vs Liverpool game.

The PGMOL and the FA promised to reconsider the rule that prevents referees from officiating matches other than those arranged by FIFA or UEFA.

This contains a transcript of the conversation between officials during a football match. The referee on the field is only able to hear the comments directed to him, not everything said in the VAR room.

Assistant referee 1: “Waiting. Delaying, delaying.”

VAR: “Possible offside, Diaz.”

Assistant referee 1: “Coming back for the offside, mate.”

VAR: “Just checking the offside, Delay, delay.”

VAR: “Give the kick point, let’s go. Kick point, please?”

Referee: “Yeah, no worries, mate.”

Replay operator: “So here we are.”

Referee: “Wait.”

Replay operator: “Just get a tight angle.”

VAR: “Yeah, give me a 2D line ready after this one for frame two after that.”

Replay operator: “So frame two there?”

VAR: “That’s fine.”

VAR: “Perfect, yeah.”

VAR: “2D line on the left boot.”

Replay operator: “Let me just switch angles.”

VAR: “Romero, I think it is?”

Replay operator: “I think it might be this angle [that is] better? Happy with this angle?”

VAR: “Yep.”

Replay operator: “2D line on the boot?”

VAR: “2D line on the left boot.”

Replay operator: “Yeah, okay.”

Replay operator: “So, 2D line on the boot.”

VAR: “And stop.”

VAR: “Check complete, check complete. That’s fine, perfect.”

Assistant referee 1: “Playing.”

Referee: “Cheers, mate.”

VAR: “Thank you, mate.”

Referee: “Well done, boys. Good process.”

Replay operator: “Wait, wait, wait, wait. The on-field decision was offside.”

Replay operator: “Are you happy with this?”

Assistant VAR: “Yeah.”

Replay operator: “Are you happy with this?”

Assistant VAR: “Offside, goal, yeah.”

Assistant VAR: “That’s wrong that, Daz.”

VAR: “What?”

Replay operator: “On-field decision was offside. Are you happy with this image? Yeah, it’s onside. The image that we gave them is onside.”

Assistant VAR: “The left-back he’s played him, he’s gone.”

VAR: “Oh [expletive].”

Replay operator: “Delay, delay.”

Replay operator: “Oli’s [PGMOL Hub Ops] saying to delay, Oli’s saying to delay.”

VAR: “Pardon?”

Replay operator: “Oli’s calling in to say delay the game. The decision is onside.”

VAR: “Can’t do anything.”

Replay operator: “Oli’s saying to delay, Oli’s saying to delay.”

VAR: “Oli?”

Fourth official: “Yeah?”

Replay operator: “Delay the game, delay the game. Stop the game.”

VAR: “They’ve restarted the game. Can’t do anything, can’t do anything.”

Assistant VAR: “Yeah, they’ve restarted. Yeah.”

VAR: “Can’t do anything.”

Assistant VAR: “No.”

VAR: “I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. *Expletive*.”