Jurgen Klopp questions pressure on VAR officials after error denies Reds goal

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp saw his nine-man side beaten at Spurs (John Walton/PA)

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp questioned the pressure being put on officials after the Professional Game Match Officials Limited vowed to investigate the decision to rule out a Luis Diaz goal in the Reds’ dramatic 2-1 loss at Tottenham.

Diaz looked to have put Liverpool ahead in the 34th minute when he raced on to Mohamed Salah’s through ball and rifled into the bottom corner of the net, but the offside flag was immediately raised.

A VAR check by Darren England in Stockley Park occurred, with screens inside the stadium informing supporters, but play was able to quickly resume with the effort remaining offside.

Referees’ body PGMOL has since acknowledged a “significant human error” occurred and that VAR “failed to intervene” to prevent the error.

The PA news agency understands that the VAR drew the lines to check for offside and followed the process correctly.

But, in what sources described as a momentary lapse of concentration, England lost focus of the initial on-field decision, meaning his confirmation resulted in a ‘check complete’ instead of intervening and awarding Diaz’s effort as intended.

Liverpool went on to finish the match with nine men and suffered stoppage-time heartbreak when Joel Matip deflected Pedro Porro’s cross into his own net in the sixth minute of stoppage time, but the post-match discussions focused on the crucial first-half error.

“Who does that help now? We had that situation in the Wolves-Man United game. Did Wolves get the points? No,” Klopp reflected when informed of the PGMOL statement.

“We will not get points for it so it doesn’t help. Nobody expects 100 per cent right decisions on field but we all thought