Five reasons why Jarell Quansah's Liverpool goal against Toulouse should not have been disallowed

A controversial video assistant referee decision denied Liverpool a stoppage-time equaliser against Toulouse

04:00, 10 Nov 2023

The decision to disallow Jarell Quansah's late goal against Toulouse due to an Alexis Mac Allister handball left Jurgen Klopp baffled.

Klopp, speaking in his post-match press conference following his side’s 3-2 defeat at Stadium TFC, didn’t feel that Mac Allister handled the ball in the build-up to Quansah firing past Guillaume Restes deep into stoppage time.

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Referee Georgi Kabakov was called over to the screen and overturned the goal, but there was confusion during the VAR review as, at one point, the match referee appeared to award the goal.

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But in the end, the goal was ruled out, and the decision was slammed on X, formerly known as Twitter, by VAR expert Dale Johnson, who explained the five reasons why Quansah's strike should have been allowed to stand.

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Johnson cited that MacAllister’s arm is close to his body, it is also being withdrawn and he doesn't move to the ball. The ESPN journalist then explained that the ball also hits Mac Allister high on the arm, is not deliberate and the incident happened way back in play.

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Speaking after the game, Klopp said: "I only saw the video back now and for me it's not a handball, but how can I decide that?

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“The ball goes to the chest and then I don't see a contact with the arm, to be honest. Maybe they had a different picture than I had.

“It was pretty long ago before we scored the goal and I thought, 'Where is the free-kick?' I didn't see it properly but I heard there could have been a penalty for us in another situation, I don't know.

“Actually, I am a bit more concerned about [the fact that] I would have loved us to have played better, to be honest. That's my main issue tonight. In a football way more aggressive.”