LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 30: A giant screen shows Liverpool’s Luis Diaz’s goal disallowed by VAR during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool FC on September 30 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook were later suspended
Liverpool could be in a position to launch a “legal challenge” over the VAR error that cost them a point against Tottenham.
It’s been a full week but Reds fans are still buzzing after VAR failed to overturn a decision that wrongly ruled out Luis Diaz’s opener against Ange Postecoglou’s side. While Darren England and Dan Cook were ruled out of the weekend’s Premier League games by the PGMOL, there is no current protocol that says games cannot be postponed to overturn wrong decisions once play has resumed.
Ahead of Liverpool’s recent 2-0 win against Union Saint-Gilloise, Jurgen Klopp was heavily criticized for suggesting their 2-1 defeat against Spurs should be replayed. Although unlikely, football finance expert Dr Rob Wilson believes the Merseysiders could have a legal claim.
“There’s a discernible difference in prize money for the Premier League’s top two of about £5million or £6m, but Liverpool still would have qualified for the Champions League, and that’s much bigger than finishing 5th,” the professor of economics at Sheffield Business School said, on behalf of BettingSites.co.uk. “It’s offset a bit by the Europa League, but £80million is the difference between qualifying for the Europa rather than the Champions League.
“That’s why it’s much more important for clubs to finish in the top four than finish champions. There isn’t that much difference between finishing fourth or finishing first, but it’s next to nothing. Fifth to fourth is where the big money is earned. Do you think Liverpool could have a legitimate claim against the Premier League? Let us know in the comments section below
Klopp recently said he believes the match should be replayed (Image: Getty Images)
He added: “I’m not a lawyer, so I couldn’t answer whether Liverpool have a case against the Premier League or not. I understand that the laws of the game prevent the game from being stopped. For the officials, the VAR decision was correct, but you can imagine any legal dispute.This legal challenge would result in millions of pounds in lost revenue. “It could mean you don’t finish top of the Premier League or you don’t get into the Champions League – whichever is easier to calculate. Not finishing in the top four will cost Liverpool £80m next year. I don’t. see us have a precedent here, except when Mascherano and Tevez played at West Ham and the Hammers sent Sheffield United crashing.
Tevez and Mascherano helped keep West Ham in the Premier League in 2007 (Image: AFP)
“It became £5m, which was never commensurate with the cost of relegation. It gives us a precedent to say the next step is a legal challenge.”
A win for Liverpool against Spurs would leave them one point in the Premier League. Instead, they were relegated to fourth place. Things could get worse for them when Klopp’s side travel to Sussex to face dangerous Brighton.
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