‘Stunned’ former PL ref ‘doesn’t understand’ Liverpool statement as he reacts to ‘toughest ever matchday’

Dermot Gallagher was “stunned” by the VAR’s failure to overturn the decision to rule out Luis Diaz’s goal for Liverpool against Tottenham on Saturday.

Jurgen Klopp’s side had their unbeaten start to the Premier League season ended by Spurs over the weekend as Joel Matip’s own goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time gave Tottenham all three points.

Liverpool had gone so close to a point after seeing Curtis Jones’ booking upgraded to red midway through the first half after his challenge was reviewed by VAR.

Son Heung-min soon broke the deadlock only for the Reds to equalise through Cody Gakpo, whose half-time replacement Diogo Jota was sent off in the 69th minute for two yellows.

But the main talking point was how Diaz’s opener was wrongly ruled out for offside due to what the PGMOL called a “significant human error” by VAR Darren England.

And former Premier League referee Gallagher reflected on the decision and his ‘toughest ever matchday’, told Sky Sports: “There’s a lack of focus, lack of judgement by the VAR. They didn’t check what the on-field decision was and made a decision based on what he thought, rather than what he was told.

READ MORE: The only ways to even up Liverpool injustice: a replay, or a head-start against Spurs…

“It allowed the game to restart, and once it had restarted – the damage is done. Offside is the on-field decision. Without VAR, it still would’ve been offside.

“VAR is there to check every goal. He thought it was a goal, and for some reason felt a goal had been given on the field. He’s then checked, seen it is onside and said check complete.

“But he has another colleague with him, an AVAR, an assistant, a specialist in offside judgement. People can’t understand why he didn’t intervene and see the assistant had flagged.

“This escalates from an error from Darren England to having a colleague alongside him who should have also flagged it.

“In a situation like this, I was stunned on Saturday. It’s the toughest day I’ve ever had at work on a match day.

“You’re trying to explain to people what’s happened – and second-guess what’s happened, because they’re in a different location to myself. That’s what I can’t process.”

Liverpool angrily reacted with a strongly-worded statement insisting the incident “undermined the integrity of the sport”.

But Gallagher was baffled by the statement, he added: “I don’t understand what that means, to be honest. I seriously don’t.

“It was a mistake, referees make mistakes all the time. It’s Sky Sports News’ 25th birthday – you can find loads of mine in that time.

“It’s a very, very bad mistake, no doubt about that, but it’s a mistake.”