FOOTBALL fans were left stunned when Liverpool’s opening goal against Wolves was allowed to stand – despite Virgil van Dijk clearly handling the ball in the build-up.
The leaders opened the scoring when Sadio Mane turned the ball home after Adam Lallana had failed to control Van Dijk’s long ball upfield.
Ref Anthony Taylor initially blew up for a foul believing Lallana had handled the ball – but VAR overruled him as replays showed the ball hit his shoulder.
But what officials at Stockley Park failed to notice, was that two seconds earlier Van Dijk controlled the ball with his right hand immediately before launching his pass forward.
It was reported on television that the officials had looked at what had happened and decided it was inconclusive that the Liverpool defender had handled.
But it appears the actual law is that even though the handball led to a goal within three or four seconds, it did not play a direct role in setting it up.
And that is why Taylor is believed to have told the furious Wolves players that any offence had taken place too early in the move before the goal.
However, the hypocrisy of the laws mean that if Van Dijk had fouled an opponent before hoofing his ball forward, that offence would have resulted in the goal being ruled out.
Liverpool then benefited from another fractional VAR decision on the stroke of half-time when Wolves were denied an equaliser by a marginal offside in the build up to the goal.
It led to #LiVARpool trending on Twitter as supporters questioned how the runaway leaders were benefiting from the technology.
