The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel has delivered a paradoxical verdict on Liverpool’s controversial disallowed goal against Manchester City this month: the on-field decision was technically incorrect, but the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was correct not to intervene.
The five-person KMI panel voted 3-2 that the goal—disallowed for an offside offense against Andy Robertson—should have been awarded, with the majority ruling Robertson did not clearly impact goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
However, the panel also voted 3-2 that VAR was correct to uphold the call.
The split vote confirmed the incident was not considered a “clear and obvious error,” the necessary threshold for VAR to overturn the on-field referee’s decision.
In other rulings, the KMI panel logged a VAR error in the Brentford vs Newcastle match, unanimously agreeing that a penalty should have been awarded to Brentford’s Dango Ouattara.
