Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui was left furious after his side were denied a winning goal against Liverpool in the FA Cup third round, with no definitive camera angle available to overturn the offside decision. The match at Anfield ended 2-2, forcing a replay at Molineux later this month.
Toti Gomes thought he had scored the winner from a corner, but the assistant referee flagged for offside. VAR upheld the decision despite the lack of a clear angle, as the pass back to corner taker Matheus Nunes was not captured by sufficient cameras. ITV Sport's Mark Pougatch explained: 'We think there is no definitive angle to prove that the assistant was wrong. Therefore, they take the assistant’s decision.'
Lopetegui was shown a yellow card for his protests and later visited the officials' office with captain Ruben Neves for clarification. Speaking to ITV, he said Wolves would 'have to accept' the decision. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp acknowledged the controversy, stating: 'I’m not sure about their third goal. We have one angle where it could be offside, but I can totally understand that Wolves is not happy with that.'
The incident compounded Wolves' frustration after Mohamed Salah's goal for Liverpool had been allowed despite the Egyptian being in an offside position initially. However, the goal stood because Wolves defender Toti deliberately headed the ball into Salah's path, making him onside by law. Eni Aluko criticised the lack of camera angles, saying: 'These are all state of the art stadiums... just show it on the screen!'
