Manchester United vs Liverpool: VAR the star of the show again
VAR stole the spotlight in the Premier League yet again, this time at Old Trafford in the derby between Manchester United and Liverpool, which ended 1-1.
The recurring theme of the Premier League season popped up once again in the lone fixture on Sunday at Old Trafford, where Liverpool scored a late goal through Adam Lallana to grab a point against the surprisingly solid Manchester United. It was Video-Assisted Review, or VAR for short, that was the main talking point from the match, similar to when Spurs drew Watford or Leicester beat Burnley on Saturday.
Manchester United opened the scoring, much to the delight of the Old Trafford support, through Marcus Rashford tapping home a delicious cross from Daniel James, who grows in stature as the weeks go on. Rashford has had a tough time finding the back of the net of late, but his movement towards and then away from Joel Matip left the Cameroonian centre-back wrong-footed, allowing Rashford to tap home a simple goal.
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However, the goal wasn’t short of controversy – replays showed that Divock Origi may have been fouled in the buildup to the goal by Victor Lindelof, and Liverpool were not happy about it whatsoever. However, since it wasn’t deemed a clear and obvious error, the goal was allowed to stand. “They scored a goal which shows all the problems with VAR” said Jurgen Klopp, post-match. “Mr Atkinson let the game run I’m sure because there is VAR. For me it was a clear foul”.
That wasn’t the only incident involving the scandalous use of the VAR technology, however. Sadio Mane made a fool out of Victor Lindelof and put the ball past De Gea for what Liverpool thought was an equalizing goal, but upon video review, Mane was deemed to have handled the ball in the buildup to the goal, which was clear to see from the replay. While ruling the goal out seemed very fair, it certainly added to the negative spectacle of VAR from a Liverpool perspective, and surely gave Jurgen Klopp an extra few gray hairs.
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While VAR stole the show, it was still an entertaining match at Old Trafford between 2 great rivals. Manchester United deserved to win based mostly on Liverpool’s inability to really get going, but the away sides ability to get a point out of an awful performance at a tough ground is certainly the sign of potential champions.