VAR Controversy: Crystal Palace denied goal against Liverpool by VAR over soft touch

VAR Controversy: Crystal Palace denied goal by VAR against league leaders Liverpool over an alleged soft push by Jordan Ayew on Dejan Lovren.

Video assistant referee has constantly been around controversies in its debut season in the Premier League. In another instance, VAR has once again allegedly helped Liverpool against Crystal Palace.

The Reds are playing away against the Eagles at the Selhurst Park, and as always, Liverpool is facing difficulty in dealing with Crystal Palace, which has proved to be a bad omen to them since 2014.

Amidst all of this, Liverpool was about to face a deficit just before the half-time, as James Tomkins placed the ball through a header in the 42nd minute of the game as he was at the right place at the right time, when Luka Milivojevic delivered a splendid ball through free-kick.

https://twitter.com/RouteOneFootbal/status/1198267395695095808?s=20

Initially, Crystal Palace was given the goal but soon it was taken away from them as VAR came into the play. In the footage examined by VAR, it was seen that Jordan Ayew pushed Dejan Lovren, which made the Croatian fall on the ground.

This was found objectionable by the VAR and after a long delay, the goal was disallowed by the match officials. This certainly infuriated few fans, who thought that Lovren made the most out of the push and it was too soft to deny the goal.

Lagi-lagi VAR “menyelamatkan” Liverpool. Kasian kan si sepatu Tomkins gak jadi golin. pic.twitter.com/nsJPQaEY6X

— SuperSoccer TV (@my_supersoccer) November 23, 2019

Others also claimed that Liverpool is being favoured through technology, as it has come to its escape over a minor. Although, even Liverpool became a victim of it against Aston Villa.

HT: Palace 0 #LFC 0: Boos ring around Selhurst Park. VAR has been Liverpool's best player so far. Tomkins' header chalked off for a push. The PL leaders nowhere near the level so far – so flat and disjointed. Salah to the rescue off the bench?

— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) November 23, 2019

https://twitter.com/Simply_Palace/status/1198271093804548098?s=20

Just saw the fouls .. call was coming into lovrens path had he not been pushed outta the way could of got a touch that would of taken it away from Tomkins path .. might be wrong with my take but these var decisions even out so could cost LFC in other games

— Harrynoonan (@Harry1499) November 23, 2019

https://twitter.com/RiZzyUTD/status/1198267444164485120?s=20

There was no replay for offside Salah goal v City in the last match. And a long replay for CP goal? Lovren wasn’t near the ball or he wasn’t gonna get the ball in any case. Ball flicked by another L’pool defender to Tomkins. It’s a goal. Bias again.

— Ash B ⚽️🎸 (@SydneyCityBlue) November 23, 2019

Nevertheless, with this decision, few fans are once again furious with the technology. On the other side, the first half of the match ended in 0-0, with the second half yet to be played.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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