Red card for Dominik Szoboszlai: Did the referee and VAR in Liverpool’s match against Manchester City get the Haaland drama right?

With Alisson veering upfield for a set-piece as Liverpool searched for a late equaliser, Ryan Chergui kicked the ball into the empty net.

He chased Haaland and it was clear he would outpace Dominik Szoboszlai.

He overtook the City striker Szoboszlai 25 yards from goal and looked certain to win the race – but was pulled back.

It was a clear foul flagged by referee Craig Pawson, but it played an advantage.

As the ball headed toward goal with the same players continuing to jostle to reach it, the Hungarian Liverpool international was on the verge of slipping and clearing it off the goal line.

But before Szoboszlai could do so, Haaland pulled him back, preventing the home team’s player from clearing the ball out of the net.

The first strike on Haaland muddies the waters. After all, it looked like Haaland would surely score.

But they are two different cases. You have to separate the first mistake by Szoboszlai from the subsequent violation by Haaland.

Would Szoboszlai have prevented the goal had he not been fouled? There is a great opportunity.

On this basis, the target cannot stand.

Remember, Pawson played for him. Had Szoboszlai been allowed to successfully clear the ball, play would have been restarted and he would have been sent off.

The end result would be the same as that of the VAR intervention: no goal was scored and Szoboszlai was sent off for denying him a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

If you take Haaland’s first pull, it’s hard to see how anyone could have a problem disallowing the goal.

This is not the first, or last, time that VAR has correctly disallowed a goal and people are really struggling to accept it.

Yes, the goal could be important for Manchester City at the end of the season. But the goal scored could also be vital for Liverpool.