Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has claimed that VAR was wrong to deny Liverpool a late penalty against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.
The showdown between Jurgen Klopp’s and Pep Guardiola’s juggernauts was hyped as a potential title decider, and while the draw leaves that question open, both teams played out a thrilling game at Anfield. City dominated the first half, with John Stones’ close-range shot putting them ahead.
However, the Reds fought and levelled inside two minutes of the second half when Alexis MacAllister converted a penalty after Darwin Nunez was fouled by Ederson. Liverpool kept pressing and felt they should have been awarded another penalty deep into stoppage time when Jeremy Doku caught Mac Allister with a high boot.
Referee Michael Oliver did not award a penalty, but after a check, VAR informed him that Doku had played the ball. At full time, Klopp contested the judgment, claiming that all football fans were aware it was a penalty kick.
In his Daily Mail essay, Clattenburg, who is currently a referee advisor for Nottingham Forest, chastised VAR for failing to award Liverpool a penalty late on. “Liverpool should have been awarded a stoppage-time penalty against Manchester City but this is the problem in the Premier League right now – referees are making mistakes in matches and not being helped by their VARs,” he said in a blog post.
“The ball bounces upward. Alexis Mac Allister approaches it. Jeremy Doku’s foot is high. He strikes Mac Allister in the chest.
“Outside the box, this would have resulted in a free kick every day of the week.” Just because it happened inside the box doesn’t mean it’s a clean challenge when Mac Allister is left playing connect the dots on his chest Monday morning.
“Referee Michael Oliver missed it in real time at the end of a tiring and exciting match, so it was up to VAR Stuart Attwell to intercede. This is where the dissatisfaction resides; we’ve seen similar occurrences this weekend where Stockley Park should have informed their teammates on the pitch that they had missed a penalty or received a red card but did not.”
Liverpool is now second on goal difference against Arsenal following the draw. City is only one point behind both clubs in third.
