Former Liverpool player Ryan Babel reignited the embers of an infamous tweet from his past as he lambasted the officiating crew in the Reds' 2-1 loss against Tottenham
The game had quite a number of disputable decisions that worked against Jurgen Klopp's men. Two Reds players, Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota, received red cards in 26th and 69th minute respectively. A Luis Diaz first-half goal was inexplicably disallowed for offside, which was a major source of controversy.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Babel posted an image juxtaposing the referee's face and a Tottenham shirt onto a photo of a match official. The caption accompanying the image read:
"Players of LFC should be allowed to post this picture tho [sic]…"
According to Liverpool Echo, this was a not-so-subtle nod to a tweet he had sent out back in 2011. Following a controversial FA Cup defeat to Manchester United, Babel had posted an image of that game's referee, Howard Webb, superimposed onto a United shirt. That digital expression of frustration notably cost him a £10,000 fine at the time.
The Liverpool faithful were left reeling from what can only be described as a catastrophic display by the officials at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Simon Hooper and his team certainly didn't do the Reds any favors, as they failed to draw the lines to confirm the offside goal against Luis Diaz.
Now, the PGMOL has apologized for this severe error.
PGMOL apologizes for officiating error in Liverpool's defeat to Tottenham Hotspur
The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) has issued an apology to Liverpool. They have conceded that Luis Diaz's disallowed goal in the clash against Tottenham Hotspur should have been given.
Released on Saturday evening, the statement from PGMOL recognized "significant human error" in the officiating team's decision-making process. The statement elaborated (via Sky Sports):
“The goal by Luiz Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials. This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene.
“PGMOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error. PGMOL will immediately be contacting Liverpool at the conclusion of the fixture to acknowledge the error.”
Diaz had managed to slip past the Tottenham defense before expertly slotting the ball past goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario. Despite the linesman raising his flag for offside, a quick review by VAR should have easily clarified that the Colombian was in a legitimate position.
Surprisingly, the technology fell short, as the offside lines were not even displayed on the TV screens, further inflaming the situation. The Reds were agonizingly close to walking away from north London with a hard-fought point, but a 95th-minute own goal by Joel Matip sealed their fate. Son Heung-min's 36th minute opener was cancelled out by Cody Gakpo's first-half stoppage time strike.
