Liverpool v Man City: Howard Webb backs officials over disallowed Reds goal
Speaking on the Match Officials Mic’d Up programme, Webb acknowledged there would be a difference of opinion but said there were valid reasons for the goal to be disallowed.
“Tackling an opponent where the player in an offside position has not played the ball and the referees have to decide whether that player’s actions affected the opposition are some of the most subjective decisions we have to make,” Webb said.
“So it’s no surprise that some people believe that this target should stand, so I think it’s important that we look at the facts of what actually happened in this situation.
“We know the corner has gone in and the ball has reached Van Dijk. As the ball passes over the penalty area, Manchester City players come out and leave Robertson in an offside position in the heart of the six-yard box.
“When Van Dijk directs the ball forward, that’s when we have to make the offside call on Robertson and what he was doing there.
“We know he hasn’t touched the ball, but what is he doing? As the ball moves towards him, he makes a clear move to duck under the ball, three yards from goal, right in the middle of the six-yard box.
“The ball goes just above his head and the ball finds the goal half of the six-yard box he is in. The referees then have to make a decision; did this clear move affect goalkeeper Donnarumma and his ability to save the ball? This is where subjectivity comes into play.”
“Of course that’s the conclusion they drew from that. They looked at that position, they looked at that movement so close to the goalkeeper and formed that opinion.
“I know this is not a view that everyone accepts, but I think it is not unreasonable to understand why they came to this conclusion.
“The player is so close to the goalkeeper that the ball comes towards him and the goalkeeper has to duck to get out of the path of the ball – and they conclude that this affects Donnarumma’s ability to dive towards the ball and make a save.
“And of course, after making that decision on the pitch, the VAR’s job is to look at that and decide whether the offside result was clearly and obviously wrong.
“Only Donnarumma really knows whether he was affected by it or not and of course we have to look at the real evidence and when we see the real evidence of the position where the player got under the ball so close to the goalkeeper, the VAR decides that the offside conclusion was not clearly and obviously wrong and the players stay out of it.”
