Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand slams VAR after Liverpool FC controversy

Rio Ferdinand believes the controversy surrounding Luis Diaz's disallowed goal for Liverpool on Saturday would not have occurred with semi-automated offside technology.

The Liverpool winger saw his goal ruled out for offside in a dramatic 2-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur. Having initially been called offside, the decision went to VAR but a miscommunication with the referee led to the decision being incorrectly backed, rather than overturned.

On Tuesday evening the PGMOL - the body that represents officials - released the audio footage of the VAR assistants, who believed the on-field decision was onside. And after listening to the clip, former Manchester United defender Ferdinand criticised the decision to vote against semi-automated technology.

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“This is high level stuff, this is the Premier League, beamed around the world, huge investment in our game,” Ferdinand told TNT Sports. “In this type of situation, I'm looking for - as an ex-player and part of the media now - I'm looking for ownership in that situation.

“Who is taking ownership of that situation? Who is the boss? Who is leading? It looks like they're all in there and no one knows who to look to and who is going to take ownership, that's my first point.

“My second point is in the World Cup, technology took over this type of situation. It wasn't left to human error, technology took over.

“Then there was a vote from the Premier League to say that technology isn’t ready yet, we don’t want it. If they'd let this come in we wouldn't be sitting here having a problem with this situation believe.”

In a statement