Liverpool may have been on the end of a 3-0 defeat at Manchester City, but did a pivotal moment dramatically alter the course of the game?
The Premier League champions were 1-0 down at the time following Erling Haaland’s opener just before the half-hour mark.
However, the Reds thought they had equalised in the 38th minute when captain Virgil van Dijk headed home.
The Netherlands centre-back escaped the attentions of Matheus Nunes and met Mohamed Salah’s inswinging corner just outside the six-yard box.
Van Dijk planted a powerful header beyond the dive of City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and ran off in celebration.
However, the assistant referee then decided to raise his flag and a check by the video assistant referee (VAR) determined that Liverpool defender Andy Robertson interfered with play from an offside position and it was disallowed.
Robertson had his back to goal just in front of the line, behind Jeremy Doku, and ducked out of the way of Van Dijk’s header.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot told Sky Sports it was “obvious and clear that the wrong decision has been made” to disallow the goal.
“He didn’t interfere at all with what the goalkeeper could do. Immediately after the game someone showed me the goal that the same referee allowed – City against Wolves last season,” he said.
“So it took the linesman 13 seconds to raise his flag to say it was offside. So there was clearly communication, but as I said that [goal] could have influenced the game in a positive way for us.”
Van Dijk said that “the officials are deciding the key decisions” and there was “no point discussing this from my point of view”.
He added: “It doesn’t matter what I say [about the goal] because anything I say will be in the media and the whole international break will be about my comment on the decision.”
So was it the correct call?