Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has spoken about the VAR controversy surrounding Luis Díaz’s goal in Liverpool’s defeat to Tottenham at the weekend.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has offered his condolences to Liverpool after their controversial defeat to Tottenham in which a goal was wrongly ruled out.
In a match marred by controversial refereeing decisions, Liverpool were down to nine men. Meanwhile, Luis Díaz thought he had opened the scoring in the first half, but the referees disallowed the goal.
Surprisingly, VAR did not overturn the decision on the assumption that a goal had been scored. Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) later admitted to “significant human error”. In response to these events, Liverpool issued a strong statement calling for transparency and change, successfully demanding votes from match officials, which have now been published.
Amid the ongoing chaos of Saturday’s game, Guardiola shared his thoughts on VAR ahead of Manchester City’s Champions League clash with RB Leipzig. Asked about his thoughts on VAR, Guardiola acknowledged its impact on referees’ decision-making.
“It has changed the job of the referees because now they don’t take decisions, it goes to VAR,” Guardiola told reporters. – I understand the feeling of Liverpool, but referees decide.
“No (I have no idea how to fix it). I’m not a professional to implement it as best as possible. I’m not involved and I don’t care.
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“We have to trust the people there. Everyone knows they made a mistake and Liverpool suffered a big consequence because it is very important in these games.
“They have to find a system where the main roles are the players and the game itself. In all countries, not only here. Referees and VARs play the main roles. And Oscar goes… they have to take a step back. It’s about the players.
“In some games, be more humble and let the players do what they have to do and they’ll be better. They’ll get better.”
