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Chief refereeing officer Howard Webb has explained why Benjamin Šeško's goal in Manchester United's 3–2 victory against Liverpool was allowed to stand, despite his belief that the ball made contact with the striker's hand.
United's second goal in their hard-fought triumph over bitter rivals Liverpool came courtesy of their imposing Slovenian forward, who netted his 12th goal of his debut campaign in contentious circumstances.
Liverpool goalkeeper Freddie Woodman palmed a header into Šeško, and the ball appeared to graze the forward's hand before finding the back of the net. VAR spent considerable time reviewing footage of the incident but ultimately chose not to overturn the on-field decision for handball.
Webb has acknowledged the ball "probably" made contact with Šeško's hand—which would ordinarily have seen the goal disallowed—but maintains that insufficient certainty over the marginal touch is what allowed the original ruling to remain.
'Probably Hits the Hand'—Webb Rules on Divisive Šeško Decision
"The footage speaks for itself. I think it probably does hit the hand," Webb told Match Officials Mic'd Up. "But of course, VAR needs that conclusivity. They need to be absolutely certain that it does.
"It doesn't matter what we think, it's what they think. We do ask them to be sure that something needs acting on. Certainly Šeško doesn't deliberately handle this, he doesn't make himself big. It's all very natural.
"But of course, the laws of the game require any goal that comes off the hand of the player who scores immediately to be disallowed. That means VAR has no option but to begin examining that.
"Sometimes it looks like they're being overly forensic and you hear the VAR checking from multiple angles. They want to get it right, if it does conclusively come off the arm. But they don't reach that level of certainty.
"They probably think it does [hit Šeško's hand] as well, but they need to be absolutely categorical to intervene. They couldn't establish that. That's why the on-field decision stood."
Arne Slot Frustrations Intensify
Liverpool manager Arne Slot was swift to criticise VAR's failure to act following the final whistle in Manchester, and Webb's admission that he believes the ball did touch Šeško's hand will only deepen those frustrations.
"If it was a touch, which I believe it is, in a ball sport it has a certain curve and if it changes direction there must be contact, then we should be having a debate about whether that is sufficient to disallow a goal," Slot said after the defeat.
"I don't think it is a surprise to anyone this season that when there is a VAR intervention it goes against us—it has been the same story all season."
Šeško's strike ultimately proved to be the decisive moment in a frantic encounter, though Liverpool have little grounds for complaint over the loss following a largely poor performance at Old Trafford.