Chaotic scenes as Wolves ruled out late VAR winner but officials made RIGHT decision

Following Liverpool’s dramatic 2-2 draw with Wolves, mass confusion erupted at Anfield and online after Toti Gomes’ last-minute winner was ruled offside.

Chaos ensued when the Wolves defender heeled the ball into the net after a scuffle in the penalty area, but match officials were quick to decide his goal for an offside position in front of the goal.

Mike Dean, the VAR referee for the game, was called into action but could not find a clear and obvious reason to overturn the decision on the field as there was “no definitive camera angle” to check for offside and, accordingly, on Officials were right on PGMOL’s advice not to overturn the decision.

Toti Gomes (right), last-minute winner against Liverpool, was controversially disallowed on Saturday

It looked like Gomes had edged Wolves back to one point for offside in a sensational win

The PGMOL guidelines state: “The key element here is that the on-field assistant referee, who (unlike the television cameras) was able to see the player in full [Matheus Nunes] (returning from the corner) in an offside position when the ball was returned to him.

“That was the call on the field – offside. There was no evidence for the VAR to say the assistant referee was wrong.

After taking a corner in front of the goal, Nunes had pulled back to retrieve the ball, putting himself offside before flying in the resulting cross that resulted in Toti’s disallowed goal.

But the referees were right to parry the goal after Matheus Nunes was ruled offside in the build-up

The Wolves boss was visibly angry at the officials after the final whistle

While the officials made the right decision, fans both at home and at the stadium were confused as to why VAR came to its final conclusion.

Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui, who was animated on the touchline after the goal was initially ruled offside, nevertheless expressed outrage at why Mohamed Salah’s goal was not ruled offside and why there was no explanation from the officials.

VAR, confusingly, had no camera angle to overturn the onfield decision that was ruled offside

“To talk about the two goals, the offside they had,” said the Wolves coach after full-time.

“We saw and there is no offside. It’s impossible, but someone tells him it’s offside. We saw the picture and it doesn’t exist.

“The second goal for Liverpool is the same. The rule in Europe, in my opinion, we have to talk a lot with referees about such situations.

“It’s a shame because we deserved to win today. We need to recover from a very tough game against Nottingham Forest.’

Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp dismissed claims the goal should have stood, saying: “I’m not sure about their third goal.

“We have a picture that might look aside, but I can understand why they’re upset about it. We don’t want the VAR to have just one angle.

Even Emile Heskey and Eniola Aluko in the expert box criticized the decision-making process that led to the goal being disallowed.

“We sit in the studio and try to figure it out ourselves and we get it 10 minutes later.” said Heskey.

“In the crowd, they also think. Even on the bench they say “No, no, no”. From what you’ve seen, it’s a good target.’

Aluko agreed: “Whatever the decision, these are all state-of-the-art stadiums with screens everywhere. Just show it on screen. Simply show on screen why the decision was made and all questions will be eliminated.’

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