Image Credits: Imago Images
The Premier League’s Match Centre has released an official statement clarifying the VAR decision that disallowed Iliman Ndiaye’s goal for Everton in Sunday’s Merseyside derby, a moment that proved pivotal in a 2-1 defeat that has all but ended the Toffees’ slim hopes of European football this season.
Ndiaye had thought he had written his name into the history books at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, turning home Jake O’Brien’s cross to register what would have been the first ever Merseyside derby goal at Everton’s new ground. The stadium erupted, the Everton players celebrated, and for a matter of minutes it appeared as though the Toffees had struck the most significant of early blows in a game that carried enormous consequences for both sides of the city.
However, semi-automated offside technology intervened. After a VAR review, it was established that O’Brien was fractionally beyond Ibrahima Konaté, Liverpool’s last defender, at the moment he collected a loose clearance on the right-hand side before delivering the cross. The Premier League Match Centre confirmed the decision on X, posting: “#EVELIV – 27′ VAR OVERTURN VAR checked the referee’s call of goal – and established that O’Brien was in an offside position and recommended that the goal was disallowed.”
The decision was a marginal one by any measure, and it did not sit comfortably with everyone inside the ground. For Everton, the timing of the ruling made it doubly painful, because within approximately 150 seconds of Ndiaye’s effort being chalked off, Liverpool were ahead at the other end. Mohamed Salah — in what is expected to be his final Merseyside derby — connected with a superb ball in behind the Everton backline from Cody Gakpo to make it 1-0, a goal that was adjudged onside and which drew Salah level as the joint-highest scorer in Merseyside Derby history throughout the Premier League era.
The contrast between the two moments — a legitimate-looking goal disallowed for the most marginal of offside calls, followed almost immediately by Liverpool taking the lead — understandably dominated the post-match conversation at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Everton manager David Moyes was measured in his response when asked about the disallowed goal, but the frustration beneath the surface was clear. Moyes told Sky Sports: “The game was quite chaotic. In that period, it looked like a good goal for me but we trust the people that they got it right. We’re not here to make any excuses, we should have got more, we didn’t.”
Moyes’s wider verdict on the afternoon reflected the sense of an opportunity missed rather than a decision suffered. Everton had started the brighter at their new ground, with Giorgi Mamardashvili — before his injury forced him off on a stretcher in the second half — making several early stops including a fine save to deny Beto. The Toffees were competing and creating, and had the Ndiaye goal stood in the 22nd minute, the momentum of the entire game would have shifted dramatically in their favour.
Instead, Beto’s equaliser in the 54th minute brought them level before Virgil van Dijk’s stoppage-time header — in the 100th minute — settled the contest for Liverpool and moved the Reds seven points clear of Chelsea in the battle for Champions League football. For Moyes and Everton, the broader picture is now bleak. Their gap to the European places has widened at a critical moment, and the chance to cut the deficit to two points — which a win on Sunday would have delivered — has gone.
“There’s no shame in how we performed today,” Moyes said. “We’re playing against one of the teams in the league who expect to be challenging for Champions League and trophies. I think we gave them a good run for their money. I want this team to always be competitive. They didn’t have it their own way.”
The Premier League’s official confirmation of the VAR reasoning closes the chapter on the decision itself, but for Everton supporters processing a 2-1 defeat in their new home’s first derby, the margins will feel as cruel as they always do in a contest where they so rarely fall in blue.
