Roberto Firmino had a goal disallowed by VAR Martin Atkinson during Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Aston Villa. And it looks like this decision has caused a fair bit of stir.
Initially, it looked like the Brazilian was indeed offside being just millimetres in front of the Villa defender when the ball was played.
But now after the post-mortem of the decision, it is fair enough to say that Martin Atkinson did an oopsie.
Speaking after the match, Jurgen Klopp refused to brush this incident aside despite his team winning the match as he went on to say: “We won 2-1, so it’s now not that serious,
“But we are talking about serious moments, it’s not right that we are sitting here talking about it and everybody wants to laugh. There’s nothing to laugh about, to be honest. A manager can get sacked for losing football games.
“I don’t want to make it bigger than it is. We just have to clarify it. I don’t say anybody is doing it on purpose.”
And now beIN Sports pundit Andy Gray has revealed some footage in which it can be seen that referee Martin Atkinson moved the lines which were used to judge the decision.
“To my naked eye, that knee (of Villa defender Tyrone Mings) is playing all of him onside,” said Gray[as reported]. “I can see that.
“When they first calibrate it, and they do it and ‘oh, wait a minute, he’s still onside, let’s do it again’.
Proof that Firmino was ONSIDE when #VAR official Martin Atkinson initially drew the lines!#beINPL #AVLLIV pic.twitter.com/JrJsGtyA5a
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) November 2, 2019
“They do it again, and lo and behold, it comes up that he’s offside in the second calibration and suddenly he’s offside.
“That should have been a goal, end of. My naked eye can see that knee is playing every part of Roberto Firmino onside and I don’t need calibration to tell me otherwise.”
While the Premier League has come up with an official response to all the chaos that has been caused by this decision but they are yet to respond to the acquisition against referee Martin Atkinson.
