Once again, VAR took centre stage in a Liverpool match against Aston Villa.
Roberto Firmino thought he had equalised for Liverpool against Dean Smith’s side at Anfield on Saturday.
But the goal was disallowed after Diogo Jota was adjudged to have been offside in the build-up.
This is the second time that a Liverpool clash with Aston Villa has been overshadowed by a Firmino-related incident, after the Brazilian also scored a disallowed goal at Villa Park last season.
The technology is certainly controversial and quite a lot of high-profile figures in and around the English game have been slamming.
Danny Murphy has chimed in and claimed it is simply ‘idiotic’ for Liverpool’s goal to have been ruled out yesterday afternoon.
He wrote in The Daily Mail: “Disallowing a Liverpool goal because Diogo Jota’s sleeve was deemed to be marginally offside in the build-up shows how badly we are using technology. This pursuit of perfection is idiotic. Nobody cared before technology where a striker’s armpit or shoulder was positioned.
“In football, the feet should be offside for a goal to be chalked off — nothing else matters.”
Firmino, a £29 million signing in 2015 [BBC Sport], could have done with the confidence boost, too.
Liverpool have a massive Champions League visit of Real Madrid on Wednesday,with Jurgen Klopp’s side trailing 3-1 from the first leg.
The Brazilian star hasn’t been at the races in terms of goalscoring for a while, but the goal against Aston Villa might have whet his appetite to find the net again versus Zinedine Zidane’s side.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
