Liverpool Stars Arne Slot and Virgil van Dijk Blast Referee's 'Glaring' Blunder in Crushing Man City Loss
Liverpool boss Arne Slot has criticized what he believed was a "clearly incorrect decision" to rule out Virgil van Dijk's strike in Sunday's loss to Manchester City.
Following Erling Haaland's opening header for City, Van Dijk believed he had leveled the score with his own headed effort seven minutes before halftime, but the match officials spotted left-back Andy Robertson in an offside position as the ball traveled toward Gianluigi Donnarumma's net.
A brief VAR review upheld the original call, with officials later confirming the offside ruling was correct because Robertson was considered to be "directly in front" of Donnarumma. Video replays revealed the Scottish defender, though offside, was clearly positioned to the left of the Italian keeper's sight line.
Missing the boost that would have accompanied an equalizer, Liverpool subsequently suffered a 3–0 loss to Pep Guardiola's dominant team, prompting Slot to express his displeasure with the controversial moment.
"It's challenging to share my perspective," Slot commented. "It's evident and obvious that an incorrect call was made, in my view at least.
"He [Robertson] had no impact whatsoever on the goalkeeper's ability to make a save. Right after the match, someone showed me a goal the same official permitted—City versus Wolves last season.
"The assistant referee took 13 seconds to raise his flag for offside. There was clearly discussion happening, but as I mentioned, that decision could have changed the game favorably for us."
Van Dijk: No Point Discussing Disallowed Goal
Van Dijk was questioned about his thoughts on the ruling, but the Dutch captain was hesitant to create controversy and instead concentrated on the disappointing outcome of the match.
"In football, the referees make the crucial calls and we must accept them on the field," Van Dijk stated. "There's no benefit in debating this from my perspective. The truth is we were beaten 3–0 and that's a significant setback.
"It's irrelevant what I say [regarding the goal] because whatever I comment will appear in the press and the entire international break will focus on my remarks about the decision. I'm simply concentrating on the fact we lost. You can all discuss whether it should have counted."
The disallowed strike occurred at the conclusion of a week where Van Dijk had been frequently mentioned in media coverage. The center-back had taken exception to leadership criticism from the increasingly vocal Wayne Rooney in a situation that saw the two meet on television and the former Manchester United forward apologize for his remarks.
Rooney: 'Van Dijk Goal Should Have Stood'
Rooney provided some unusual support for Liverpool following the defeat, backing Slot's view that it was an incorrect decision to disallow Van Dijk's goal.
"I don't believe [Robertson] has influenced [Donnarumma] whatsoever, looking at the replay," Rooney told BBC's Match of the Day.
"Robertson is positioned offside but Van Dijk shows excellent movement, delivers a superb header and Donnarumma has clear vision of the ball, we can see he tracks the ball throughout and Robertson is positioned beside him.
"Donnarumma is fully extended, makes a complete dive, there's no interference from Robertson on that strike in my opinion.
"Donnarumma shifts all his weight onto his right foot which makes it difficult for him to recover across the goal but he dives immediately as Van Dijk makes contact with the ball and he's committed, he's diving and it's an excellent header, the goal should have been allowed in my view."