Liverpool manager Arne Slot bemoaned the decision, made by referee Chris Kavanagh after a closer look at VAR, to disallow Virgil van Dijk‘s first-half header in his side’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City. Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has also offered an interesting take on the controversy regarding Andy Robertson’s positioning.
It was the inevitable Erling Haaland who opened the scoring for Pep Guardiola‘s men just before the half-hour mark. Midfielder Nico Gonzalez then doubled his side’s lead after his shot deflected off a backpedalling Van Dijk, who was still peeved off about his goal being chalked off just minutes earlier.
Jeremy Doku – whose performance against the Reds proved why he is widely regarded as one of the best wingers on the planet – put the icing on the cake in the 63rd minute with a terrific goal. The Belgian produced a strike that Liverpool fans have grown used to seeing from Mohamed Salah: he danced beyond a couple of defenders before wrapping into the top corner.
Clattenburg Offers Interesting Take on Virgil van Dijk’s Disallowed Goal in Liverpool’s 3-0 Defeat to Man City
Van Dijk, a revolutionary figure on the red half of Merseyside, thought he had levelled the game shortly before half-time. He latched onto the end of Salah’s delivery from the corner and nodded his effort past Gianluigi Donnarumma – but the assistant referee raised his flag after adjudging Robertson to be in an offisde position and in the Italian shot stopper’s eyeline.
Replays of the incident showed the Scottish defender, in an attempt to do everything he could to see Van Dijk’s header hit the back of the net, ducking out of the way. The Premier League wrote on X (formerly Twitter) to suggest that Robertson was “deemed to be making an obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper”.
Watch Jamie Carragher’s post-match assessment of the refereeing decision below:
Gary Neville, for one, believed that Liverpool were hard done by, and the same sentiment was echoed by Micah Richards during Sky Sports’ half-time analysis of the Premier League blockbuster clash. As alluded to, Slot said: “I think it’s obvious and clear the wrong decision has been made – at least in my opinion.”
Clattenburg, speaking to Rousing The Kop after Slot’s Reds were dealt their fifth loss of the 2025/26 Premier League campaign, suggested that Robertson could have prevented the goal being chalked off if the 31-year-old had moved either side of the ball rather than ducking under Van Dijk’s headed effort.
“It will split opinions, but Andrew Robertson is in an offside position in front of the goalkeeper when Virgil van Dijk heads the ball into the goal,” Clattenburg – a former referee who took charge of just shy of 300 Premier League matches – said.
“I believe if Robertson had made a movement to the left or right and had not ducked under the ball which distracted the goalkeeper, he would not have been punished for being in the offside position. Robertson does not affect the line of vision as a defender was blocking this and does not impact his ability to save the ball but clearly distracts.
“He was offside, but the question is, ‘Does he distract, in line of vision or affects his ability to play the ball?’ This is why it’s subjective and everyone will have an option,” Clattenburg concluded. Slot and his men now have time to rue the decision, though, given all players are away for the November international break.
When they return to domestic action, Liverpool – who won the Premier League title in the Dutchman’s maiden season in the hotseat – welcome Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest to Anfield before doing the same for Dutch outfit PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on November 26. They round off the month with an away trip to West Ham United.
Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes has told the club he wishes to leave this summer to join Arsenal, according to David Ornstein.
The Magpies have already sold Anthony Gordon to Barcelona for £70m, while Sandro Tonali completed a £100m move to Tottenham Hotspur this week, with Eddie Howe looking to rebuild his squad.
But they have now been rocked by the wishes of the Brazil international, with the Gunners ready to make a mega bid to take him to north London.
Bruno Guimaraes Tells Newcastle He Wants to Join Arsenal
via Reuters
Guimaraes has just finished representing Brazil at the World Cup, where he enjoyed an excellent tournament but couldn’t help the five-time winners past the Round of 16, where they were eliminated by Erling Haaland’s Norway side.
But he has now informed Newcastle bosses that he wishes to leave this summer after the club failed to qualify for Europe, and he wants to join Arsenal in the summer window.
The Gunners have made it clear they would be willing to pay up to £60m for the 28-year-old, and are now preparing to make a formal offer. No club-to-club contact has been made yet, although Arsenal did have a verbal enquiry worth around £55m rejected by the Magpies earlier this month.
Manchester United have reached an agreement with Chelsea to sign midfielder Andrey Santos, according to David Ornstein.
The Red Devils have been in the market to bolster their midfield options this summer, but missed out on deals to sign their top targets Elliot Anderson and Matheus Fernandes, after they moved to Man City and Tottenham Hotspur for £116m and £85m respectively.
But INEOS have now secured their second midfield signing of the summer after agreeing a fee with Premier League rivals Chelsea for the Brazil international.
Man Utd Agree £50m Deal to Sign Andrey Santos
Santos, who has been described as ‘world-class’, has been a long-term target for INEOS, and a deal has now been struck worth a fixed fee of £48m, plus a further £2m in easily achievable add-ons for the 22-year-old.
Personal terms are already in place, and permission has now been given to the midfielder to undergo a medical before putting pen to paper on a long-term contract at Old Trafford. Chelsea have also secured a 10% sell-on clause as part of the deal.
In what was perhaps the most dramatic game of the 2026 World Cup so far, Argentina came from two goals down to beat Egypt 3-2. Such as the drama, football legend Lionel Messi was seen in tears at the full-time whistle.
Egypt took the lead through Yasser Ibrahim as Messi missed a penalty to get his team back level. The side from Africa then saw one goal controversially ruled out before Mostafa Ziko scored to make it 2-0. At this moment, Argentina’s number 10 appeared to spark into life.
Cristian Romero pulled one back, and only four minutes later, Messi had levelled the scores. Enzo Fernandes would complete the remarkable comeback in the 93rd minute. Messi was in tears at the final whistle, later explaining his emotions to the press:
“I felt like I had let the team down at an important moment,” the 39-year-old said on his missed penalty. “But fortunately, fate had something special for me at the end, and I managed to score the equaliser.”
Thierry Henry Drops Verdict on Messi vs Egypt
Just one day prior, Cristiano Ronaldo had exited the pitch also in tears, as Spain beat Portugal to end his World Cup dreams for the final time. For Messi, this was a different kind of emotion, and former Barcelona teammate Thierry Henry provided some interesting insight into the scenes.
Speaking on Fox Sports, the pundit offered up an honest assessment of Messi’s tears. In a clip which has gone viral on numerous outlets, generating thousands of views and comments, he explained:
“First and foremost, he reminded us that he’s human, because he missed some penalties and four out of eight (at all World Cups). And then he reminds us again that he’s not human.
“I mean, I played with him, and with Leo, sometimes do not wake up the beast? That’s what happened, and I’ve seen it in training, closely. You know when you’re in training sometimes, and you know guys when when one of the coaches don’t want to call a foul or the ball was out, and then you score, and then Leo wanted that ball to be out and a foul, and then he goes, ‘The ball went out’, and the coach was like, ‘Stop complaining, because it can happen in the game.’
“Next thing you know, you look at his eyes and he switches, and he goes and get that ball. I was there. I witnessed it [in training at Barcelona]. He scores three goals in a row by scoring straight away, robbing the ball off you, scoring again, robbing the ball off you, scoring again, and he turns. He said, ‘Next time, call of foul’, and we all went. ‘Yeah, next time, call of foul’ because he’s just unstoppable. When he goes into that mood, he’s very difficult to stop.”
Egypt Manager Makes FIFA Messi Accusation After Argentina Defeat
“They want Argentina and Messi to stay in the World Cup for marketing. If they wanted Argentina to win, why invite other teams to participate? This match was clearly rigged, and the whole world witnessed it.
“We were better than Argentina, and football is unfair. We had a clear penalty that the referee didn’t award, and Ziko’s goal at the start of the second half was disallowed, even though it was perfectly legitimate.”
“The Egyptian Football Association cannot remain silent regarding the refereeing decisions witnessed during the match against Argentina as well as the failure to make appropriate use of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system. Several key incidents raised serious concerns and left profound questions about the consistency and fairness of decisions that directly influenced the course of the game.
The statement concluded: “Every player who wears the Egyptian shirt, and every supporter who stands behind the team, deserves fairness, respect, and equal application of the laws of the game.”
Argentina will now face Switzerland in the quarter-finals as they look to continue their trophy defence, having won the World Cup in 2022.
