VAR Board Rules No Error In Florian Wirtz Fulham Goal

Ten days ago, Liverpool drew Fulham 2-2 with Florian Wirtz scoring their first goal. The goal was ruled onside using semi-automated offside technology. For Liverpool fans, that was the end of it. For Fulham and some in the broader football media landscape, it was a controversy.

It was a controversy because it was a very tight call. And, more importantly, it was a controversy because the broadcasters selected a later frame in highlights where Wirtz appeared clearly offside on account of it being a later frame and that Wirtz was running forward at the time.

Now, ten days and two matches on—a nil-nil against Arsenal and a 4-1 FA Cup victory over Barnsley—we have confirmation from the league’s Key Match Incidents Panel that it was the right call with the semi-automated system using the correct frame to rule Wirtz onside.

“The VAR intervention to award the goal was supported as correct given the tight margin of the offside call and thicker offside lines used for these incredibly tight calls,” read a statement from the VAR board on the two-week old incident that never seemed genuinely controversial.

In addition to correctly selecting the frame where Conor Bradley initiated his pass to Wirtz, a 5cm tolerance on offsides intended to give close calls to the attacker came into play and ensured the call was both correct and not nearly as close as Fulham fans and “neutrals” might wish.

From a Liverpool perspective, it’s hard not to roll our eyes at this apparently still being a thing that needed to be resolved given it was made clear fairly quickly that the discrepancy between frames used by VAR and 0n the broadcast were the primary reason Wirtz appeared offside.

We’re also fairly certain that nobody who felt that it was controversial will take note of the VAR board’s ruling on the incident, and your favourite Fulham (and Arsenal) fans will likely keep bringing it up in the future as an example of VAR trying to rig things in the Reds’ favour.