Referee makes Premier League stir again

Former "man in black" Keith Hackett criticized the referee and VAR for allowing Liverpool's goal in the 1-2 loss to Crystal Palace in round 6 of the Premier League on the evening of September 27.

Salah became the center of controversy.

At Selhurst Park, Liverpool thought they had earned a valuable point thanks to Federico Chiesa's late equalizer in the 88th minute.

Chiesa's goal came from a chaotic situation, when Ryan Gravenberch's pass caused chaos in the Palace defence. However, the goal was checked by VAR because of suspicions that Mohamed Salah may have touched the ball with his hand.

As Gravenberch crossed the ball in, Salah's hand appeared to touch the ball, causing chaos in the Palace defence and giving Chiesa the chance to finish close range. After a review, VAR confirmed the goal was valid.

The official account of the Premier League Match Operations Center confirmed: "In the 87th minute, the referee's decision to award the goal was checked and confirmed by VAR - because there was no clear evidence that Salah touched the ball in the situation leading to the goal."

Slow motion camera shows Salah likely touched the ball with his hand.

However, former referee and former director of the Professional Game Officials' Organization (PGMOL), Keith Hackett, disagreed with the tournament's management team. Mr. Hackett expressed: "It's confusing because when reviewing the video , it's clear that Salah deliberately used his hands, making his body swell up, reaching up to touch the ball. The referee did not realize this situation."

"Then VAR checked but didn't give the right decision. It was clearly a handball. Something was wrong - either a communication issue, or a technical issue - because the video evidence clearly showed there was a handball. The goal was not awarded. There's no question about it," the former Premier League referee stressed.

However, Cyrstal Palace still won 3 points. The victory brought the home team to second place in the Premier League, only 3 points behind Liverpool. "Eagles" promise to be a formidable challenger in the 2025/26 season.

Source: https://znews.vn/trong-tai-lai-khien-premier-league-day-song-post1588977.html