Fans think they've spotted the moment referee Simon Hooper was informed VAR had wrongly disallowed Luis Diaz's goal against Tottenham.
Ange Postecoglou's side leaped up to second in the table with a dramatic 2-1 win over Liverpool in north London, sealed by an absolute doozy of an own goal in the 96th minute. The game was littered with contentious moments, including two red card decisions Reds fans won't accept in a hurry, but the biggest controversy of the evening was the bungling of Diaz's perfectly legitimate opener in the first-half.
The Colombian forward was incorrectly flagged offside seconds before stroking the ball past Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario, and a subsequent VAR check should have corrected the call. But a brain fart, caused by what the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) described as "significant human error", in the VAR room resulted in the goal staying chalked off.
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What happened was Darren England and Dan Cook, who were on VAR duty, mistakenly believed the goal had been given, rather than being disallowed for offside, and signalled to referee Hooper that the correct call had been made. A few minutes later their gargantuan error was relayed to Hooper, and the look on his face says it all.
After the ball goes out of play for the first time after the debacle, Hooper hears something in his earpiece and pauses for a moment. The colour then appears to drain from his face as (we assume) the reality of the situation sinks in.
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"The look of horror knowing that he is in a world of trouble," one fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in response to a clip of the supposed moment of realisation. Another said: "I imagine what he heard was something along the lines of 'we f***ed up big time'."
"He looks physically sick," noted a third fan, while a fourth fumed: "He was already having a bad game, but he completely lost it at this point, got worse as it progressed, and collapsed under pressure. He's not good enough to be a ref at this level."
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The PGMOL released a statement immediately after the game acknowledging and apologising for the gaffe, and promising a investigation into the incident. It has since been confirmed that England will not be involved in Nottingham Forest's clash against Brentford, while his assistant Cook has also been removed from Chelsea's trip to Fulham on Monday night, with Craig Pawson and Eddie Smart taking their respective places.
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