GARY NEVILLE was left fuming as Manchester City’s 100th minute clincher was controversially ruled out in a crazy climax at Anfield.
Rayan Cherki thought that he had put some gloss on City’s dramatic turnaround, only for his goal to eventually be disallowed following a lengthy VAR check.
With City leading 2-1, Liverpool piled men forward in the hunt for an equaliser – including goalkeeper Alisson.
As the Brazilian stopper was caught up field, Cherki was able to roll the ball towards the unguarded net from the centre circle.
This prompted an almighty race between Dominik Szoboszlai and Erling Haaland.
It looked for all the world as if Haaland would speed past Szoboszlai and tap the ball into the net.
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But the Norwegian was tugged back by his opponent, who then steamed ahead.
Haaland then yanked Szoboszlai back, which led to neither of them reaching the ball, and Cherki’s shot tricking over the line.
Epic celebrations would follow… only for VAR to then intervene.
Referee Craig Pawson initially let both pulls go, allowing the goal to stand after Haaland had been fouled first.
But after being sent to the monitor, the referee was forced to follow the letter of the law.
Pawson deemed that the goal had to be disallowed, as Haaland had fouled Szoboszlai.
But with Szoboszlai having first pulled back the striker, thus denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, the Hungarian was shown a red card.
With the incident having occurred deep in stoppage time, the match only briefly resumed before the final whistle went, confirming City’s 2-1 victory.
‘TALK ABOUT A KILLJOY!’
Watching on as a co-commentator for Sky Sports, Neville felt that the way the VAR intervention played out left a sour taste.
The Manchester United legend said: “Talk about a killjoy! They have just killed one of the great moments of the season.”
Neville then added: “The VAR is saying you cannot ignore the first foul and not give the second one.
“There isn’t a football fan who will say that is a foul!”
‘I FEEL BAD FOR HIM’
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, even victorious Haaland was frustrated with the incident.
He said: “Of course, the referee had to follow the rules but this will give him three games (ban), in the end I feel bad for him (Szoboszlai) because he gets three games.
“Just give the goal, don’t give a red card. Simple as that. It’s the rules and how it is.
“Cherki just passed me the ball so I can score but he didn’t want to, so that’s just how it is!”
After a quiet first hour, the game finally sparked into life in the final 20 minutes.
Szoboszlai scored a sensational free-kick on 74 minutes to leave City’s title hopes hanging by a thread.
Just as Neville appealed to the likes of Haaland and Bernardo Silva to step up, the duo linked up for the latter to stab home an 84th minute equaliser.
Haaland was then gifted an amazing opportunity to hand City the lead from the penalty spot after Alisson took out Matheus Nunes late on.
The hulking forward made no mistake from 12 yards three minutes into stoppage time to put City ahead, leading to a crazy climax to the match.
City’s win saw them move to within six points of leaders at Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola‘s side will host Fulham on Wednesday, with an opportunity to reduce the deficit at the top to three points ahead of the Gunners’ trip to Brentford on Thursday.
Mark Halsey’s expert view
Craig Pawson had no choice but to rule out what would have been Manchester City’s third goal.
Credit to Craig, he was waiting to see what happened when Rayan Cherki sent the ball towards an unguarded net in stoppage time.
Dominik Szoboszlai pulls Erling Haaland back but Craig waits to see if Haaland can still get to the ball.
That doesn’t happen so when Haaland then pulls Szoboszlai back that is stopping the Liverpool player from preventing the ball from going into the net.
No advantage had been signalled so once VAR John Brooks calls Craig across he has no choice – he has got to look at the first offence, the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity.
Craig was correct in law. People will be saying ‘why didn’t he just give the goal?’ but Haaland’s pull-back stopped the Liverpool player from clearing the ball.
For City’s penalty, Craig got that absolutely spot on. Alisson clattered Matheus Nunes and it was a nailed-on penalty – Liverpool can have no complaints.
The major factor was whether the ball was still in play. It was so the referee had no choice but to give the penalty.
Liverpool claimed Marc Guehi should have been sent off for pulling Mo Salah back on the edge of the box at 0-0 but there was a covering defender so it was not a red card offence in my opinion.
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