Referee chief issues apology to Everton over VAR penalty error vs Man City

PGMOL managing director Mike Riley has issued a personal apology to Frank Lampard after Everton were denied a penalty in their defeat to Manchester City on Saturday.

The 57-year-old refereeing chief contacted Lampard and Everton chairman Bill Kenwright to apologise for the decision. Referee Paul Tierney and VAR referee Chris Kavanagh dismissed the Everton appeals despite a lengthy review in which various angles showed Man City 's Rodri appearing to control the ball with his arm.

Footage showed Rodri using his upper arm to cushion a bouncing ball in the Everton box. It came moments after Phil Foden had given City an 82nd-minute lead at Goodison Park.

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Everton submitted an official complaint to the Premier League on Monday. Sky Sports now claim that the chairman and manager both received calls later in the day to address the issue.

Toffees' first team coach Ashley Cole was shown a yellow card by Tierney for his continued appeals at full-time; Lampard vented his frustrations in an emotive post-match interview with Sky Sports.

"There is no doubt, there is no probably to it," he said when asked if Everton should have been awarded a penalty.

"The decision is incredible, incredible, and that loses us the opportunity to get what we deserved.

"That's a VAR call. That's Chris Kavanagh, I spoke to the referee and they know it is a penalty, the question is that is it offside and it wasn't.

"That's the reason we have VAR. It wouldn't have needed more than five seconds to know it was a penalty. He [Kavanagh] should have either told the referee to give it or told him to go look at it.

"We've lost a point because of a professional who