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In a bizarre error that has come to the fore after the Premier League encounter between Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium, it is being learnt that Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was unable to check a possible offside by Bukayo Saka owing to a technical issue.
Notably, Gabriel Martinelli's goal had put Arsenal in the lead early on in the match and despite there being a debate on whether or not that strike should have been allowed, a technical snag meant the hosts grabbed that advantage. It turned out to be quite a decisive moment in the match as the hosts eventually ended up winning the match 2-1.
Bukaya Saka had passed the ball to his teammate who scored but the 21-year-old was seemingly caught in an offside position when he got the ball from Ben White. Although the offside flag was not raised and the goal had to be reviewed, an ESPN report suggests that there was no conclusive evidence to overturn the on-field decision.
This is because Saka was not apparently visible in any of the five Hawk-Eye cameras which are used when such decisions are referred. Although one footage did show England International in frame which was from a tactical camera, virtual offside lines could not be drawn on those since this camera was not calibrated for such an incident.
Ultimately, Michael Oliver, the assistant football referee, was left with no choice but to stick with the original call.
Despite the controversy, the decision has received the backing of certain football experts and pundits including Richard Keys who argued that in these cases, the forward should get the benefit of the doubt.
"I've argued that when decisions are - the forward should always get the advantage so I’d be happy if the PGMOL have had a change of heart. Except they haven’t. They missed it. How do I know? Because we asked the match centre for the proof that Saka was on. We wanted to see the lines they’d used to make their decision. They couldn’t provide them. Why? Because they didn't use them. If they checked it - they guessed," Keys was quoted as saying by ECHO.
Last month, a similar incident unfolded in Series A where a VAR malfunction denied Juventus an injury-time winner against Salernitana.
