Napoli’s disallowed goal swung the game against Liverpool last night. Jurgen Klopp shared what he heard about the long wait for a decision.
VAR played a heavy role in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Napoli last night. Without it, the game would have gone very differently.
Liverpool needed it for their second goal, for instance, after Darwin Nunez was incorrectly flagged for offside. More importantly, VAR intervened to chalk-off Napoli’s opener.
A set-piece allowed Leo Ostigard to head home and put Napoli in front. VAR, however, eventually ruled it as offside – he’d moved marginally ahead of Ibrahima Konaté in the buildup.
And ‘eventually’ is the word. This decision took an age, contributing to seven minutes of stoppage time at the end of the game. It was a strange one, though, given offside calls are usually rapid in the Champions League. For whatever reason, UEFA had trouble with this one.
Jurgen Klopp shared what he heard about the decision after the game, though – it had been a technical issue.
“I heard it was some technical issues?” he told BT Sport. “So, of course it’s tough but in the end for us it was alright. Waiting long is okay when it goes in your direction – or three times our direction. That’s fine.
“I didn’t see the first goal. I think after that long time they probably made the right call, for us the same.”
Napoli’s disallowed goal
No, Liverpool didn’t change their position in the group by winning this one but it does feel like they proved a point. They’re still an excellent side and beat arguably the best team in Europe on Tuesday night.
The Reds certainly relied on VAR to make it happen, though. The deserved their win, of course, but the original decisions would have seen yet another deflating opening goal go against Liverpool.
Instead, the intervention appeared to rejuvenate the stadium – much as it did against Manchester City a few weeks ago. Liverpool were on the front-foot from then on and found their goals.
Thank God VAR persisted, then. Technical issues could have forced them into agreeing with the on-pitch decision and that would have cost Liverpool.
Thankfully, all went well.
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