The audio of match officials debating Diogo Jota’s disputed goal for Liverpool in the Merseyside derby against Everton has been published. And PGMOL CEO Howard Webb believes the right decision was made.
The Reds won 1-0 in a match that was plenty of talking points. Earlier in the game, Liverpool believed Everton captain James Tarkowski should have been sent off for a foul on Alexis MacAllister.
After the game, Blues manager David Moyes was also upset over what he thought was an offside in the build-up to Jota’s goal.
Luis Diaz was in an offside position early in the action, and Ryan Gravenberch attempted to pass the ball through to him, prompting Tarkowski to react. The ball deflected off an Everton defender and was recovered by Liverpool, which advanced and scored through Jota.
Speaking about the event on Mic’d Up suggested that the ruling was correct because Diaz was not interfering with play.
“This all comes down to the point that just being in an offside position, which Luis Diaz is, is not in itself sufficient to be penalised,” stated the Brazilian player.
“It’s all about what you do in that position, and you must do one of the things specified here [in the video] to be punished for offside interfering with an opponent. We don’t see Luis Diaz doing any of these things while in the offside position; he simply stands there.
“Now you can feel sorry for Tarkowski here because he stretches out to stop the ball from going through to Luis Diaz, but that ship has sailed, and if you’re just in that offside position and don’t do anything behind a defender, you won’t be penalised.”
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