Manchester City 3-0 Liverpool: Did Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed goal change the course of the English Premier League match?

Autonomous offside decisions, those in which the player does not touch the ball, are always controversial.

They require an explanation of the impact from officials, which is often not clear.

And Chris Kavanagh, who was the referee for Sunday’s match, knows all about them.

As Virgil van Dijk’s header was making its way towards goal, Andrew Robertson ducked to allow the ball to go into the net. The Scotland international stood in an offside position, and the assistant raised his flag for offside.

This decision was not about line of sight, but rather “a clear action that clearly affects the opponent’s ability to play the ball.”

The offside law does not require the referee to believe that Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma will definitely save the ball, but his ability to do so was affected. It’s an evasive move that’s crucial.

If Donnarumma had not been standing close to Robertson, or if the Scotland international had not been in the six-yard box, the offside situation would have been weak.

But there has to be an argument that Donnarumma was influenced. For this reason, since the field team ruled offside, the goal was unlikely to be disallowed by a VAR review.

It’s a borderline call, but it’s still supportable as a decision on the field.

A good comparison is Everton’s disallowed goal against Manchester United in March 2020. Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s shot was deflected towards goal, and Gylfi Sigurdsson, who was sitting inside the six-yard box, pulled his legs to allow the ball to pass. Verdict? Chris Kavanagh.

We can compare it to the goal awarded via VAR last season. John Stones’ late goal for Manchester City at Wolves was scored on the pitch by Bernardo Silva who was in goalkeeper Jose Sa’s line of sight. But while he was close to Sa, he was not in front of him and, unlike Robertson, did not deflect from the path of the ball. Verdict? Chris Kavanagh.

We’ve seen two similar situations this season – Manchester United’s goal at Nottingham Forest, and Leeds’ goal against Bournemouth – where an offside player made a small movement off the ball. In those cases, it was felt that the players’ movements and positions (they were not inside the six-yard box) were not enough to influence the goalkeeper.