Liverpool to 'explore range of options available' following VAR error

Liverpool said that "sporting integrity has been undermined" by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) error in Saturday's 2-1 Premier League loss to Tottenham, adding they will "explore the range of options available".

The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the referees’ governing body in England, admitted VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook failed to act after Luis Diaz’ 34th-minute strike at Tottenham on Saturday was wrongly disallowed for offside. Still images of the incident showed Tottenham's Cristian Romero playing Diaz onside.

The decision was made when the Premier League match was goalless but after Curtis Jones had been contentiously sent off following England’s intervention. Liverpool also had substitute Diogo Jota sent off as Spurs grabbed a last-minute winner through a Joel Matip own goal.

England and Cook were stood down from duty for the rest of the weekend but Liverpool issued a statement on Sunday saying they will pursue the matter.

The statement read: “Liverpool Football Club acknowledges PGMOL’s admission of their failures last night. It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined. We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR."

Liverpool said it was “therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention".

“That such failings have already been categorised as ‘significant human error’ is also unacceptable,” the club's statement added. "Any and all outcomes should be established only by