The Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOL) admitted a mistake when denying a goal from Liverpool in the match against Tottenham.

On the evening of September 30, Liverpool lost 1-2 to Tottenham in a match in which referee Simon Hooper issued 11 yellow cards (1 indirect red card) and 1 direct red card.

Tottenham opened the scoring in the 36th minute thanks to Son Heung Min. At minute 45+4, Cody Gakpo equalized 1-1 for Liverpool. But in the final minutes of extra time, Joel Matip scored an own goal to help Tottenham win 2-1.

But the point that everyone remembers in this match is also the disallowed goal of Liverpool’s Luis Diaz in the 34th minute. In this situation, Assistant Referee 1 Adrian Holmes raised the offside flag.

Referee Simon Hooper, after a quick consultation with the VAR referees, also rejected Liverpool’s goal.

It is worth mentioning that the slow and stop-motion scenes do not show an offside line as is often seen in the  VAR system .

Immediately after the match, the British Professional Referee Management Authority (PGMOL) spoke up and admitted that Luiz Dias’s offside call was “a serious error”.

The announcement from PGMOL reads: “PGMOL admitted that a serious human error occurred in the first half of the  Tottenham and Liverpool match.

Luis Diaz’s goal was denied by the on-field referee due to offside. This was a mistake, the goal should have been recognized with intervention from VAR. However, VAR did not intervene.

PGMOL will immediately contact Liverpool, admitting this mistake.”

It is known that this is the second time PGMOL has admitted to making mistakes in a match in the Premier League  2023 – 2024.

The first time took place in  Man Utd’s 1-0 win over Wolves on August 14, 2023. That was a situation where goalkeeper Andre Onana fouled Sasa Kalajdzic in the penalty area, but VAR referee Jonathan Moss did not notify referee Simon Hooper to check the situation.

In the post-match press conference, coach Jurgen Klopp talked about Luis Diaz’s missed opening goal: “They drew the wrong line and didn’t exactly pass the ball at the right time. It’s hard to accept.

Someone showed me a picture of that play on social media. That can never be an offside situation. VAR can make things easier, but I don’t understand why decisions are made so quickly.”

After hearing that PGMOL had admitted its mistake, Klopp bluntly said: “That doesn’t help anything. The previous mistake helped Man Utd get points, this time Liverpool doesn’t have any points.”

Regarding the red cards of Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota (2 yellow cards), the Liverpool head coach sympathized with the two students, saying they were “unlucky” plays.

Before the match against Tottenham, coach Jurgen Klopp and his team had a streak of 8 matches without losing, including only 1 draw, in all competitions from the beginning of the 2023-2024 season.