SADIO MANE was denied a 14th goal of the season by a narrow offside decision on Saturday to leave fans fuming with VAR.
The notion that Liverpool have benefited from some kind refereeing this season was put to one side as the winger’s armpit was found to be in an illegal position.
Replays showed just how tight the decision was
A perfect ball in from the left wing by Xherdan Shaqiri found Mane whose header glided past Ben Foster.
Celebrations continued for some time as on-pitch officials were happy with the goal until VAR had other ideas.
Initial replays suggested the Senegal star was ever so slightly offside and this was confirmed by the lines drawn by video replay officials.
And fans were left disillusioned by the nature of the decision.
One Twitter user wrote: “I want the name of that drug VAR officials smoke every weekend.”
Fan Shane added: “With the advent of VAR, we’re now seeing the offside law being followed to the nth degree. The old rule was that if it was too tight to call, you favour the attacker, as we all want to see goals. The technology means we can’t do that anymore and that’s why it feels a bit silly.”
Lahbi commented: “So the entire arm don’t count for offside rule no more…VAR got me confused right now.”
While James joked: “VAR makes me want to give up on soccer and start a meat pie business.”
Liverpool beat Watford 2-0 in the lunchtime kick-off with Mohamed Salah netting in both halves.
The Egyptian’s stoppage time sealer was also subject to a lengthy VAR check.
Video officials drew a line off of Christian Kabasele’s backside to ensure Salah wasn’t offside while behind the goalkeeper – showing he was legal by millimetres.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is happy to stay at the club as he signs new five-year contract
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
