The VAR team overseeing Tottenham Hotspur's 2-1 Premier League win over Liverpool on Saturday evening believed that Luis Diaz's wrongly disallowed goal had been awarded on the field, according to a report.
The Reds' 19-game unbeaten run in all tournaments and 17-game streak without defeat in the English top flight was broken in highly contentious circumstances in North London, where Son Heung-min and a Joel Matip own goal rendered Cody Gakpo's response inconsequential.
Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota also saw red for the nine-man visitors, who thought that they had taken the lead not long after the former was sent for an early bath after catching Yves Bissouma with his studs in a 50-50 challenge.
Diaz clinically finished across goal after being played through by Mohamed Salah, but the linesman's offside flag went up straight away, and play resumed with a Tottenham free kick once the VAR room had taken a quick glance at the footage.
However, stills from Salah's pass showed that Cristian Romero was in fact keeping Diaz onside, and the PGMOL admitted after the game that the Colombia international's strike should have stood, sparking more fury from the already-incandescent Liverpool fans.
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The "significant human error" initially appeared similar to Ivan Toney's incorrectly awarded goal against Arsenal in February, where VAR official Lee Mason forgot to draw the lines that would have shown Christian Norgaard in an offside position.
Rather than forgetting to draw the lines, the Daily Mail claims that Darren England at Stockley Park noted that Diaz was onside, but he did not realise that the goal had been disallowed on the field.
As a result, England and his VAR assistant Dan Cook only needed a brief glance at the images before telling on-field referee Simon Hooper "check complete", having believed that Diaz's strike had been given.
The report adds that England and Cook would have spotted the error when Spurs restarted play with a free kick, but by that point, it was too late to bring play back for the incorrectly disallowed goal.
Just two minutes after Diaz was denied the opener, Tottenham drew first blood through Son, who tapped home from Richarlison's cutback, but Gakpo's slick turn and finish brought Liverpool on level terms before the break.
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However, Gakpo - who had taken a knock from a challenge by Destiny Udogie - collapsed to the turf in pain straight after scoring, and he was brought off for Jota during the half-time interval.
Jota was only on the pitch for 29 minutes, though, as he was given a contentious booking for fouling Udogie - who appeared to trip himself up - before bringing down the Tottenham left-back from behind and picking up a second yellow.
Despite having two fewer men on the field, Liverpool defended for their lives and were ostensibly set to come away with a point, only for Matip to deflect Pedro Porro's cross into his own net at the near post.
Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp was made aware of PGMOL's statement during his post-game press conference, but the German quickly dismissed the officials' admission given that his side still walked away from the match with zero points.
Meanwhile, Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou insisted that referees are "human beings" and will make mistakes alongside players and managers, but he believes that VAR will "never" be perfect.
Ben Knapton
