Controversial VAR official involved in Luis Diaz offside farce will officiate Liverpool vs Man Utd

Controversial VAR official involved in Luis Diaz offside farce will officiate Liverpool vs Man Utd

Controversial VAR official involved in Luis Diaz offside farce will officiate Liverpool vs Man Utd

Liverpool take on Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday but supporters on Merseyside might have had their confidence knocked slightly by a refereeing appointment.

Liverpool fans will be confident of victory against their bitter rivals, thanks in part to the form of Jurgen Klopp’s side and the struggles of United.

The Reds sit top of the Premier League table after 16 games, one point ahead of Arsenal, two above Aston Villa and four points in front of reigning champions Manchester City.

United find themselves sixth in the standings and 10 points adrift of Liverpool, having already lost seven matches

Klopp’s side are unbeaten in their last nine league outings, with their only league defeat of the campaign coming in controversial circumstances against Tottenham on September 30.

Nine-man Liverpool lost 2-1 that day, and were incensed that a VAR howler incorrectly chalked off a perfectly legitimate goal scored by Luis Diaz.

The Colombian attacker thought he had opened the scoring in the first half but the linesman flagged for offside. The VAR Darren England and Assistant VAR Dan Cook reviewed the incident but a breakdown in communication meant that they thought the on-field decision had been to award the goal.

Therefore, when they told referee Simon Hooper to stick with the on-field decision, the game restarted with an indirect free-kick for Spurs.

VAR controversially ruled out Luis Diaz’s goal. (

Liverpool fans won’t be thrilled to learn that Cook has been appointed as one of the assistant referees for Sunday’s huge clash with United.

On the other hand, they’ll be glad that he isn’t on VAR duty.

Liverpool were understandably furious after the Tottenham incident, with Klopp arguing that the match should be replayed.

Both England and Cook were dropped from officiating duties for one round of Premier League matches but both soon returned to duty.

Liverpool, Manchester United, Premier League, VAR

BREAKING: VAR official involved in Luis Diaz error will not officiate Liverpool for rest of the season

BREAKING: VAR official involved in Luis Diaz error will not officiate Liverpool for rest of the season

VAR official Darren England will not officiate Liverpool for rest of the season after his involvement in their defeat to Tottenham, it has been claimed.

Luis Diaz incorrectly had a goal chalked off for offside during the Reds’ heartbreaking 2-1 defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last Saturday.

The PGMOL have since released the VAR audio of the failure in communication, with fans spotting one damning moment from the incident.

Jurgen Klopp has subsequently insisted that the game should be replayed, as VAR continues to fall short in the high pressure moments.

On Tuesday, it was confirmed that both officials involved in the ‘human error’, Darren England and Dan Cook, had been stood down for another round of fixtures.

However, it has since come to light that England has been blocked from officiating Liverpool for the rest of the campaign.

That’s according to The Telegraph, who claim that the 37-year-old’s mistake will also have affected him financially

Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s Europa League clash against Union Saint-Gilloise, Klopp reacted to the audio, believing a replay would be the only fair resolution. While the German admitted he had no desire for officials to be given ‘further punishment’.

Klopp told reporters: “The audio did not change it at all, I was not interested in what things happened as I saw the outcome, we scored and it did not count.

“It’s really important that as big as football is and important as football is we deal with it in a proper way. All the people involved, the on-field referee, linesman, fourth official and especially in this case VAR, didn’t do that on purpose. It was an obvious mistake and I think there would have been solutions for it afterwards.

“Some people probably don’t want me to say, but not as the manager of Liverpool so much, more as a football person, the only outcome should be a replay. That’s how it is. It probably will not happen.”

He continued: “The argument against [a replay] will probably be if we open that gate then everybody will ask for it. The situation is so unprecedented that I’m 56 years old and I’m absolutely used to wrong decisions, difficult decisions but something like that as far as I can remember never happened.

“That’s why I think a replay would be the right thing. If it happened again, a replay would be the right thing to do or the referee has the opportunity to bring both coaches together and say, ‘Sorry we made a mistake but we can solve it. Let Liverpool score a goal and we can start from there.’

“I’m not angry with anybody, not at all. We should not go for them. They made a mistake and they felt horrible that night, I’m 100 per cent sure. That’s enough for me, nobody needs further punishment.”

Official involved in hugely controversial call at Anfield this season named as referee for Liverpool v Man Utd

Andy Madley was named the referee for Liverpool’s Premier League game against Manchester United, despite having been involved in a controversial call at Anfield earlier this season.

Liverpool host bitter rivals United in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon, hoping to close the gap on their top-four rivals.

The teams have swapped roles this term, with United in contention for the league title and Liverpool struggling to qualify for the Champions League.

However, Klopp’s side did record their fourth successive clean sheet in the top flight on Wednesday in a 2-0 victory over Wolves, suggesting they are on the cusp of an upturn in form.

Yet they will take on a United side emboldened after winning their first trophy in six years.

Erik ten Hag’s men beat Newcastle United 2-0 to win the Carabao Cup last Sunday, ending the club’s longest trophy drought in 40 years.

Madley to referee Liverpool vs United

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Madley has been named as the referee for Liverpool’s game against Manchester United.

It will be his fourth Liverpool match this term, while he has also resided over one United match.

Indeed, Madley refereed the Merseyside club’s third-round FA Cup tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers, which ended 2-2.

The game was marked by late VAR controversy, however, after Wolves found the net in the 82nd minute.

Toti Gomes flicked the ball past Alisson Becker from close range, sparking jubilant scenes in the away end, only for the goal to be chalked off for offside.

The decision of the on-field referee to disallow Toti’s goal was upheld after a length VAR check, despite there having been no camera angle available to confirm the decision.

Indeed, the officials deemed Wolves’ Matheus Nunes to have been offside in the build-up though there was not a camera angle sufficient enough to confirm the decision.

The chain of events meant VAR was not in a position to overrule the decision of the on-field assistant, which led to huge protests from the visiting players and bench.