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Liverpool have complained to referees chief Howard Webb following the decision to chalk off Virgil van Dijk's goal vs Manchester City. The defender thought he had scored, only for the strike to be ruled out due to Andy Robertson standing in an offside position and stood in Gialuigi Donnarumma's view. And according to The Athletic, Liverpool have told the PGMOL that they do not accept that the decision was reached for subjective reasons. It is suggested that the wording of the law is clear and there was no reasoning to cancel Van Dijk's equaliser. The Premier League Match Centre explained exactly why the goal was ruled out shortly after the decision was made. A statement read: "The referee’s call of offside and no goal to Liverpool was checked and confirmed by VAR – with Robertson in an offside position and deemed to be making an obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper." Boss Arne Slot let his annoyance at the decision known come the full-time whistle. He said: "It is difficult to give my view. It is obvious and clear that the wrong decision has been made, at least in my opinion. "He didn't interfere at all with what the goalkeeper could do. Immediately after the game, someone showed me the goal that the same referee allowed - City against Wolves last season. "So it took the linesman 13 seconds to raise his flag to say it was offside. So there was clearly communication, but as I said, that could have influenced the game in a positive way for us." Manchester United icon Gary Neville agreed with Slot's assessment. Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: "I know but I think he's outside of the line of the goalkeeper and the goalkeeper gets a clear view. You know the rules better than I do. Was the goal rightly or wrongly ruled out? Share your thoughts in the comments below "You see Robertson there, Van Dijk's got a clear view. He can see it. He's got no position that he can stop. I think he's got every right to be fuming, Arne Slot." He added: "Wasn't there a goal a couple of weeks ago given and it was similar to that? I don't know. I just think that Donnarumma's got a clear view of the ball. Robertson's out of the way. Look at the end of the day, it's not going to be overturned. I would feel harshly done to if I was Liverpool." Van Dijk's disallowed goal was not the only controversy at the Etihad. City were awarded a controversial penalty after Jeremy Doku was adjudged to have been taken down by Giorgi Mamardashvili. Erling Haaland saw his spot-kick saved, only to give Pep Guardiola's side the lead with a header. Nico Gonzalez and Doku then scored to seal an emphatic victory. Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us, and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
