Luis Diaz scores for Liverpool against Tottenham, but the goal was incorrectly ruled offside and disallowed
A replay of Tottenham Hotspur-Liverpool would be possible under Uefa competition rules over incorrect application of laws, rather than an outright mistake, and the European governing body do allow clubs to submit protests – albeit within 12 hours of the game finishing.
Premier League sources have so far been privately adamant that a replay will not happen, especially since the competition makes no allowance for protests, but there is a belief within football legal circles that the fact the competition’s own rules make no mention of restaging games may allow a new precedent to be set.
Jurgen Klopp became the first figure to publicly raise the prospect of a replay in yesterday’s Europa League press conference, saying he would prefer that as an outcome of this controversy, but admitted it’s unlikely. Liverpool have not made such a request up to now, as the fall-out from the decision to wrongly disallow Luiz Diaz’s goal continues.
It was the nature of how that goal was ruled out that could create a problem for the game if the club do decide to pursue that route. Since the VAR actually identified that Diaz was onside, the correct application of the laws of the game would have been to award a goal, but that evidently didn’t happen. That takes it beyond the threshold of a simple mistake, and would have fallen under the provisions for a protest to Uefa.
Liverpool themselves were involved in a potential precedent, when Roma complained about the incorrect decision of a corner – rather than a penalty – from a Stephane Henchoz handball in their 2000-01 Uefa Cup semi-final.
Referee Jose Maria Garcia-Aranda initially pointed to the spot only to change his mind and indicate a corner. While a drop-ball should actually have been given in this situation, it was felt by Uefa that no further action should be taken as a corner actually ended up benefitting Roma more than the drop-ball. Had that not been the case, though, the governing body’s use of language in the situation had some sources involved fearing the prospect of a replay might at least have been raised. Liverpool were surprised at the time that Roma’s complaint got that far.
Meanwhile, Darren England, the official at the centre of the Var controversy, will not take charge of further Liverpool games this season but will not be sacked. The 37-year-old has been removed by Professional Game Match Officials Limited along with assistant Var Dan Cook for this weekend’s fixtures but it is understood he retains backing from Howard Webb, the chief refereeing officer
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