WATCHING fans were left stunned that Mohamed Salah's goal did not appear to be checked by the Video Assistant Referee.
Salah finished off a sweeping move to put Liverpool two goals up over title rivals Manchester City inside 20 minutes of their 3-1 win at Anfield.
An instant replay showed that Salah may well have been offside.
It was extremely tight and the kind of decision that has been checked many times by VAR this season.
Only on Saturday did Sheffield United have a goal ruled out against Tottenham for a player being offside by no more than the length of a toe.
That decision took almost four minutes to reach its conclusion.
VAR did check the Salah goal at the Stockley Park HQ, the PGMOL confirmed, but viewers were left shocked that nothing came up on TV.
The PGMOL released a brief statement that said: "VAR checked for possible offside, and confirmed that the Salah goal was correct."
Given the length of time it took to rule out Sheffield United's goal at Spurs, the speed and decisiveness of the Salah decision also left viewers confused.
Spectators waited for the VAR replay - if only to confirm the goal was actually a goal - but none came.
It left fans stunned on social media and others claiming conspiracy and corruption.
Sky Sports also failed to show a further replay for more than 20 minutes of the first half, despite the goal obviously being a massive talking point.
The broadcaster showed the replay just before half-time and put an image out on social media.
But a number of fans said the line they drew on the image was "not straight" and that it was "doctored".
On the Man City bench, Riyad Mahrez could be seen showing a phone to assistant boss Mikel Arteta - presumably with an image of the goal.
City earlier had reason to complain when they thought Liverpool should have conceded a penalty.
The appeal - which also didn't appear to get a VAR check - happened just seconds before Liverpool opened the scoring at the other end.
You can’t stop Liverpool winning the league when they have officials on their side in the VAR room as well. Salah offside goal not ruled out and a handball penalty not even looked at. pic.twitter.com/L2YXdI01Tn
— Hesham Bilal-Hafiz (@hesham786) November 10, 2019This game doing nothing to help the Var was invented for Liverpool to win the league conspiracy theorists.
I don't buy that obviously. But so far this has been awful.
And sky not even showing a replay of the Salah offside is very odd.#LIVMCI
— HM (@HinduMonkey) November 10, 2019VAR replay of the Salah goal is being delayed because the VAR is waiting for his Microsoft Paint update to finish downloading.
— Tom Williams (@tomwfootball) November 10, 2019One of the issue with VAR is that nobody has seen to replay of that second Liverpool goal. How can we trust the judgement of we can't see it? #LIVMCI
— Adam Longley (@adamlongley) November 10, 2019That was a very quick VAR check for an extremely close offside... I wonder why? 🤔 where is the replay with the lines? #LIVMCI
— 𝔸𝕤𝕙 (@THE_SA1NTS) November 10, 2019Hang on, that’s two VAR decisions, both wrong and not a single replay shown... what’s going on? #LIVMCI
— Scott Lewis (@ScottyLewis4) November 10, 2019City getting robbed.. Why has VAR not checked the offside and penalty claim properly?
— Harsh (@culeharsh) November 10, 2019I’m not screaming VAR conspiracy but it’s weird how you’ve got things like Sheffield United’s offside taking 3+ minutes then the same level of offside is barely even checked. Same with the handball, that’s taking 3-4 minutes any other game. It’s just not consistent.
— Oli (@oli_v3r) November 10, 2019A stone wall penalty and Salah was offside... ok VAR 👍🏻
— Tom. (@tom_skade) November 10, 2019Salah was definitely offside but ofc VAR not gonna check that lol
— Paritosh Bhide (@paritosh_bhide) November 10, 2019Swear Salah‘s knee was offside there??
What on earth is VAR doing 🤣🤣
Ah yeah, Liverpool‘s playing... lol#LIVMCI #EPL
No VAR replays shown on Sky? Salah looked off on the freeze frame? #LIVMCI
— Chelsea Independent (@CFC_Independent) November 10, 2019Still not seen a proper replay of what VAR looked at with that Salah goal...
— All Everton (@AIlEverton) November 10, 2019But I am honestly shocked VAR didn't at least have another look at that Salah goal. There's was a hint of offside.
How does that not get checked?#Citisports
— Fentuo Tahiru Fentuo (@Fentuo_) November 10, 2019How was that Sheffield goal written off but Salah’s goal stands?!
This is just an absolute joke.
How have they managed to make VAR such a useless system?
— Arrow FPL (@ArrowFPL) November 10, 2019MOST READ IN FOOTBALL
Speaking after the game, Pep refused to be drawn on the incidents.
He told Sky Sports: "What happened today we showed why are champions, I am so proud of my team, more than ever.
"We can be proud of how we played against the strongest team in Europe.
"Ask the referees, don't ask me.
"Ask Mike Riley and the guys in VAR.
"I would like to talk about our performance, it was so good.
"It was one of the best performances we have played.
"We played like back-to-back champions.
"We cannot deny how good Liverpool are but the way we played, the personality, it was good."
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErKynZpOke7a3jqynqKqkZLOwu9ObmKWkX2Z9dH2WbmxtZ6OWuaK0jKCmmqRdo7xuwsCrZJyglZi4brvFn6qinJViuarCxKunqKecYrqiuoycoK2xXw%3D%3D