Liverpool may have grounds to initiate a “legal challenge” regarding the VAR mistake that resulted in them losing a point against Tottenham. Despite a week passing since the incident, Liverpool fans remain frustrated by VAR’s failure to correct an incorrect offside ruling that denied Luis Diaz’s opening goal against Ange Postecoglou’s team.
The PGMOL has taken action by dropping Darren England and Dan Cook from the upcoming Premier League fixtures, but there are currently “no plans” to revise the existing protocol, which stipulates that games cannot be halted to rectify incorrect decisions once play has resumed.
Jurgen Klopp faced criticism for suggesting that their 2-1 loss to Spurs should be replayed before Liverpool’s recent 2-0 victory over Union Saint-Gilloise. While the likelihood of a replay is low, Dr. Rob Wilson, a football finance expert and professor of economics at Sheffield Business School, believes that Liverpool could potentially have a legal basis for a claim.
Wilson explained, “There’s a discernible difference in prize money for the Premier League’s top two of about £5million or £6m, but Liverpool still would have qualified for the Champions League, and that’s much bigger than finishing 5th,”
“It’s offset a bit by the Europa League, but £80million is the difference between qualifying for the Europa rather than the Champions League.”
“That’s why it’s much more important for clubs to finish in the top four than finish champions. There isn’t that much difference between finishing fourth or finishing first, but it’s next to nothing. Fifth to fourth is where the big money is earned.”
He added, “I’m not a lawyer, so I couldn’t answer if Liverpool would have a legal case against the Premier League or not. My understanding is that the laws of the game prevent the game from being stopped. As far as the officials were concerned, the VAR decision was the right one, but you would imagine some kind of legal challenge. That legal challenge would involve multi millions of pounds in unachieved revenue.”
Wilson continued, ”That could entail not finishing at the top of the Premier League or not reaching the Champions League – which is easier to calculate. Failure to get into the top four will cost Liverpool £80million next year. I don’t see we’ve got any precedents here, other than when Mascherano and Tevez were playing for West Ham, and the Hammers sent Sheffield United down.”
“That ended up being a £5m payment which was never relative to the cost of relegation. That does give us a precedent to say a legal challenge will be the next stage.”
Had Liverpool won against Spurs, they would have taken the lead in the Premier League by one point. Instead, they dropped to fourth place. Their situation could worsen as they face a formidable Brighton side in Sussex.
Liverpool performance and stats
Liverpool is currently 4th in the Premier League with 16 points.
In the last 7 games, it has won 4 times, drawn twice, and lost once. In its last match, Liverpool lost 2-1 against Tottenham Hotspur.
It has a positive goal difference after scoring 16 goals and conceding 7.
Liverpool will play the next match in Premier League against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday 8th of October in Falmer. The prediction is Liverpool winning the match.