Referee: Naby Keita’s Liverpool goal would have stood even with VAR

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher told Sky Sports how VAR would not have disallowed Naby Keita’s Liverpool opener against Southampton on Friday.

The move all started when Mohamed Salah was a yard offside in the build-up to Liverpool’s first goal.

However, VAR would not have disallowed the goal because the offside wasn’t initially spotted and a lot of time and play had occurred in between Salah’s offside run and Keita’s eventual goal.

“Salah was just offside in the build-up and it was unfortunate that it did not get spotted,” Gallagher said.

“But what you would say is the ball was crossed three times, so because of the time element and the fact that it went on so long, there was time to set up and regroup for Southampton quite a few times that the VAR would not have gone back that far.

“There are always going to be errors with referees, but that error occurred so far down the field that the game went on.”

VAR is due to be used in the Premier League next season. Let’s hope incidents like these will be correctly officiated despite Gallagher’s view on this particular instance.