Liverpool’s tie with Paris St-Germain on Tuesday might have taken a very different course. Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, the Reds thought they had a lifeline when Maurizio Mariani pointed to the spot in the 64th minute — only for the video assistant referee to intervene and send him to the pitchside monitor. VAR overturned the decision and the momentum evaporated; five minutes later Ousmane Dembélé scored and PSG ran out 2-0 winners on the night, 4-0 on aggregate.
Arne Slot saw that moment as emblematic of Liverpool’s season. He argued his side have often been on the wrong end of marginal calls, noting several instances where opponents were awarded penalties for minimal contact while other situations involving Liverpool did not prompt VAR action. “So many decisions have gone against us this season,” he said, adding that if a referee doesn’t initially give a penalty, VAR often won’t step in to overturn that non-decision.
The PSG incident centred on Alexis Mac Allister contesting a loose ball and then going to ground with Willian Pacho behind him. Mariani gave the spot-kick, but VAR Marco Di Bello sent him to the monitor after replays showed contact on the back of Mac Allister’s boot. Observers are split: any contact would usually mean there wasn’t a clear and obvious error, yet VAR still intervened, suggesting the referee’s original description of the incident to the VAR differed materially from what the footage showed.
Slot did concede Liverpool were fortunate in the first leg of the tie, when a PSG penalty was overturned and another incident might have been referred to VAR. Still, there are statistical reasons he might feel aggrieved. In the Premier League this season Liverpool, along with Brighton, have conceded three VAR-awarded penalties — more than any other club. Aside from the spot-kicks at Brentford and Leeds, there was also the instance where Giorgi Mamardashvili was penalised for bringing down Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku in November.
Liverpool have also seen at least one penalty claim against them not given after VAR review — most notably in the reverse fixture with Manchester City when Matheus Nunes was bundled over by Alisson. Offensively, Liverpool have been awarded only two penalties all season, neither of which involved VAR and both came against Burnley; only Aston Villa and Tottenham have had fewer spot-kicks.
Looking at VAR interventions more broadly, decisions have gone against Liverpool six times this season — a total only Fulham, on nine, exceed. Liverpool have suffered five negative goal outcomes from VAR reviews (two disallowed goals and three conceded goals), again a tally only bettered by Fulham’s seven. On net VAR interventions (favourable minus against), Liverpool sit at -3, with only Everton worse at -4.
Not every contentious moment shows up in raw VAR stats. Some borderline incidents are evaluated by the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents Panel, where close calls can be voted on by a small group. For example, Florian Wirtz’s penalty appeal against Arsenal in January was judged by a 3-2 vote that the on-field decision to deny a penalty was correct. Similarly, a Brentford challenge on Cody Gakpo in October drew a 3-2 vote backing the referee’s no-penalty decision. There are occasions that go Liverpool’s way too: Ibrahima Konaté’s challenge on Omar Marmoush in February produced a 3-2 vote in the club’s favour.
Other managers, including Pep Guardiola and Michael Carrick, have publicly questioned refereeing fortune this season, so Liverpool are not alone in feeling aggrieved at times. Meanwhile, VAR decision records show Chelsea enjoying a notably favourable run compared with clubs like Manchester City and Manchester United.
Taken together, the numbers give Slot some ammunition. Whether those figures amount to systemic bias is debatable, but Liverpool’s season has been punctuated by enough tight VAR decisions and close calls to make his complaints understandable.
