Former referee slams 'flimsy' VAR decision that almost cost Liverpool

Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has slammed the VAR decision that prevented Virgil van Dijk from giving Liverpool a 60th-minute lead during Sunday's Carabao Cup final clash against Chelsea.

In his post-match analysis, Clattenburg, writing in the Daily Mail, labelled the offside call against Wataru Endo as "flimsy".

The Japan midfielder was standing in an offside position when the ball was played and blocked the path of Chelsea defender Levi Colwill.

Despite Colwill making no great effort to affect the play, the 'offence' took place in the zone from which Van Dijk headed the ball into the net.

Clattenburg, however, disagrees with the interpretation and subsequent implementation of the VAR call.

"Did that block from Wataru Endo on Levi Colwill mean that a red carpet was rolled out in order for Virgil van Dijk to score? No, it didn’t," Clattenburg wrote.

Commonplace

Clattenburg continued to scrutinise the decision, explaining that Endo's actions were commonplace in football.

"Van Dijk was being tracked by Ben Chilwell, who lost the aerial duel as Liverpool took the lead. Hardly anyone in a Chelsea shirt even considered complaining to the referee because the block by Endo on Colwill was completely normal," he remarked.

The former referee highlighted the routine nature of such incidents, explaining that they are often part of set-piece strategies devised by coaching staff.

"It happens dozens of times a game and most Premier League clubs hire set-piece specialist coaches who come up with these clever routines," Clattenburg explained.

Expressing his disagreement with the VAR ruling, Clattenburg labelled it as a "flimsy reason to disallow a goal in a cup final".

The one-time Champions League Final referee also addressed the pre-match comments made by the Chelsea manager: "Mauricio Pochettino used his pre-match press conference to call for Liverpool to receive no freebies in this final just because Jurgen Klopp was leaving — comments which could land him in trouble with the Football Association —but this was a massive favour for Chelsea."

"Justice was done"

However, according to Clattenburg, "Justice was done in the end". "There was no ruling that one [Van Dijk's second] out," Clattenburg concluded.

The former referee's critique adds fuel to the ongoing debate surrounding VAR's role in modern football, particularly in high-stakes encounters such as cup finals, where the margin for error is minimal.