Ref Watch: Explanation of Why Virgil van Dijk’s Goal in Carabao Cup Final was Disallowed

The match between Liverpool and Southampton had a controversial moment when Wataru Endo was deemed offside, preventing Levi Colwill from marking Van Dijk. John Brooks, on VAR, alerted the referee, Chris Kavanagh, as the match officials would not have seen the offside on the field. Brooks pointed out that Endo did not look at the ball and was solely focused on blocking Colwill, putting him in an offside position.

Brooks also highlighted that Colwill was pulled by Van Dijk, creating interference. Kavanagh went to the screen as it was a subjective decision and disallowed the goal, similar to a previous incident at Brentford with Kristoffer Ajer against Burnley. In a separate incident, Jackson was flagged offside by assistant referee Mark Scholes.

The decision was checked by VAR and was confirmed to be the correct call by the on-field officials. It was noted that while it was just offside, there was some debate about whether a yellow card should have been given instead of a red in another match between Brighton and Everton. The comparison was made to a studs-up challenge by Billy Gilmour on Amadou Onana, with the discussion centering around the level of difference between the two incidents and the consistency of referee decisions.

The text also mentions a review of an aggressive challenge involving players being angry towards each other. The VAR was consulted and determined that it did not constitute violent conduct, noting that the players’ interaction fell outside the scope of their remit. Additionally, there was a review for a potential foul inside the penalty area, with the VAR check confirming that the foul had indeed occurred within the area, leading to the award of a penalty.