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Crystal Palace were awarded a penalty a whole one minute and 45 seconds after a Liverpool foul.
Reds fans were left in uproar after play was brought back to award their Premier League opponents a penalty, several minutes after the incident occurred at Selhurst Park. Palace converted the spot-kick just three minutes before the hour mark, taking a 1-0 lead thanks to Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Mateta had gone down following a challenge by Jarell Quansah in the box. The young defender initially appeared to have got the ball first, but VAR John Brooks continued to assess the foul for far longer than usual.
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Brooks eventually called over referee Andy Madley to the pitch-side screen. And after reviewing the replay footage, Madley correctly deemed the incident a foul, pointing to the spot.
The decision did not go down well with Liverpool supporters, with play having continued for almost two minutes after. Others slammed the penalty call by stating the sheer length of time taken was proof that there was no 'clear and obvious' error on Madley's part.
One Liverpool fan fumed on X: "Game's gone hasn't it? Can go back that far and give a penalty but you can't award a legitimate goal 30 seconds after it happens," while another tweeted: "VAR has ruined football."
A third wrote: "Get this load of s*** out of our game," while a fourth added: "I don't think you'll ever see such calamitous ineptitude in your lifetime, two minutes to determine whether that was a penalty or not when it clearly was. I'm lost for words on how horrendous VAR is."
Despite the criticism, the decision to bring play back and award a penalty was a correct one by the letter of the law. Yet it irked the Liverpool faithful as they were denied a goal in a similar scenario against Tottenham earlier this season.
Luis Diaz's goal had been incorrectly ruled out for offside, but VAR failed to overturn the referee's decision after a shambolic communication mix-up which sparked outrage across the football world. And they were unable to bring play back after realising their error minutes later, having already stated "check complete".
Despite the VAR controversy, Liverpool were able to mount a stunning comeback against Palace to go top of the table, having played one game more than Arsenal. Mohamed Salah scored a minute after Jordan Ayew was sent off, before Harvey Elliott netted an emphatic stoppage time winner from the edge of the box.
- Premier League
- Liverpool FC
- Crystal Palace FC
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