The two Video Assistant Referee (VAR) officials responsible for incorrectly disallowing Luis Díaz’s goal during Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat against Tottenham on Saturday have been removed from their duties for the remaining fixtures this weekend.
The governing body overseeing refereeing in England, PGMOL, has openly admitted that Díaz had a goal unfairly disallowed for offside due to an error by VAR official Darren England and assistant VAR Dan Cook. They mistakenly believed that the on-field officials had already awarded the goal.
Díaz believed he had given Liverpool the lead in the 34th minute, only for the offside flag to be raised. The VAR team initially interpreted the on-field decision as a “goal.” They quickly realized that Díaz was onside and instructed the on-field team to conduct a thorough review to confirm the goal.
However, when referee Simon Hooper received this information, he understood it to be consistent with his assistant referee’s on-field decision, which had ruled the goal as offside. Consequently, instead of changing the decision to a goal, it remained disallowed.
Darren England was originally slated to serve as the fourth official for the Nottingham Forest vs. Brentford match on Sunday but has been replaced by Craig Pawson. Dan Cook was originally scheduled to be the assistant referee for Monday’s game between Fulham and Chelsea but has also been replaced, with Eddie Smart taking his position.
