Referee Craig Pawson initially scored Rayan Cherki’s late goal in Manchester City’s match against Liverpool because he “didn’t see” Erling Haaland’s foul on Dominik Szoboszlai.
Man City looked set to have won a dramatic 3-1 in stoppage time when Cherki’s long-range shot went into the unguarded net and Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson drove up the field, but the shot was ruled out after a VAR check.
Initially, Szoboszlai fouled Haaland, but the referee took advantage as Haaland raced for the loose ball and the striker fouled the Liverpool midfielder, who rolled into the goal.
Pawson scored on the field, but VAR John Brooks spotted a foul on Haaland and sent off Szoboszlai for denying an obvious scoring opportunity, and the match was restarted with a free kick for Man City.
Explaining the decision to Pawson, VAR said: “There’s a clear foul on Erling Haaland. That means he can’t get close to the ball, okay?”
Pawson replied, “Yeah, that’s a pullback. That’s one I played to my advantage, yeah.”
VAR then said: “However, there is a clear holding offense on the part of the defender (Szoboszlai) so we cannot play to our advantage and ignore this.”
“Oh, I didn’t see that,” Pawson said before nullifying the goal and sending off Szoboszlai.
At the time of the incident, Gary Neville said in a joint comment on Sky Sports: “It feels very unfair. I know there are rules, but the smell of the game has completely disappeared.”
“No one will disown that goal, but it will be disallowed. Talk about Killjoy. Liverpool lose because they get sent off. City lose because they don’t score.”
“You just killed one of the moments of the season.”
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Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai sees Red and Manchester City goals canceled due to scuffle with Erling Haaland!
“I heard a lot of people say, ‘Can’t we just ignore those two guys and allow a goal?'” PGMO referee Howard Webb said in response to a match official’s microphone.
“Officing at Premier League level requires a sense and understanding of the game and while we try to apply common sense as much as possible, there are limits to that.
“The ball only went into the goal because Erling Haaland pulled Szoboszlai and couldn’t clear it, and we can’t let that goal go in for that reason.
“When Szoboszlai pulled Haaland in the beginning, the referee tried to take the advantage and was waiting to see what would happen, whether the ball would go straight into the goal, but it was a good advantage and we gave the goal.
“But the ball went into the goal because Haaland clearly attacked Szoboszlai. We cannot ignore that. Therefore, we cannot just concede the advantage, because it only came about through Haaland’s actions. We must therefore return immediately to the first attack, the one in which Szoboszlai pulled Haaland.”
“A clear scoring opportunity was denied outside the penalty area, so a free kick was awarded and Szoboszlai was sent off.
“He was appealing this foul on Haaland. It was a foul so he was right to appeal, but unfortunately for him he committed an initial offense for which he had to get a penalty and we were clearly put in the right position by using VAR.”
Spurs vs Arsenal referee defends Gabriel’s decision
Meanwhile, North London derby referee Peter Banks has reinforced his belief that Tottenham’s Randal Kolo Muani’s second equalizer should have been canceled for a foul on Gabriel.
With Arsenal leading 2-1, Gabriel was brought down by a push from Kolo Muani and referee Banks awarded a free kick after the Spurs forward put the ball into the goal.
The decision was confirmed by VAR, which confirmed an on-field foul, but opinions differed on whether Gabriel’s knockdown was too weak.
Banks addressed the controversial moment during the match on Match Officials Mic’d Up, calling it a “very clear violation”.
“I see hands from the Tottenham players on the backs of the Arsenal players. That’s going to be my main focus,” Banks said. “When you see his hands on his back in live play, it’s obviously a push.
“We delayed the whistle to allow play to continue and made the final decision after the ball was in the goal. This allows VAR to check and see if we read something wrong, if we didn’t see something correctly. But on the field, this was a very clear violation.”
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On Ref Watch, Dermot Gallagher and Jay Bothroyd talk about Randal Kolo Muani’s canceled goal at Spurs, when he allegedly pushed Arsenal’s Gabriel just before the strike.
Mr. Banks was then shown a different angle and, after looking at it again, was asked if he had a different take on the incident.
“That’s not true,” he said. “I’m still comfortable.
“Things can look different at different speeds. Sometimes things look different in slow motion than they do live. I took one look at it and was convinced it was a violation to put your hands behind your back.”
“I know opinions are divided, but I still think it’s good enough for a free kick.”
