The complete audio from Saturday’s contentious error, in which Luis Diaz’s goal for Liverpool was wrongly chalked out, has now been made available.
WHAT HAPPENED: The audio that led to Liverpool’s goal against Tottenham on Saturday, which resulted in a 2-1 loss, has been made public by the official organisation for referees, PGMOL. As the PGMOL has previously stated, the goal should have stood and the decision was erroneous. They have followed it up by making the video that generated the call public.
WHAT THEY SAY: The audio opens with video of Diaz scoring and the offside signal being sounded. Then, during a conversation in the VAR hub, it becomes evident that Diaz is on the team. “Check, check, and check again. That’s great, excellent,” the VAR says. After confirming that the goal was offside, the referee said, “Well done boys, good process.” But then it becomes obvious that a serious error was made:
Replay controller: Hold off, hold off, wait, Offside was the on-field determination. Do you approve of this?
Playback operator: I agree. The representation we gave them is accurate.
VAR assistant: He played him, and he went offside.
Oh my (expletive) VAR!
Operator for Replay: “Delay, delay. Oli (PGMOL Hub Ops) advises waiting. Oli is advising waiting.
“Pardon?” says VAR.
Oli is phoning to request a game delay, says the replay operator. The choice has been made.
“Can’t do anything,” said VAR.
Operator for Replay: “Oli is telling you to wait. Oli is advising waiting.
VO: “Oli?”
Official number four: “Yeah.”
Operator for Replay: “Delay the game, stop the game.”
