VAR intervenes on handball penalty for Liverpool and Arsenal

Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai attempted a shot on goal in the 30th minute, which was blocked by Real Madrid’s Aurelien Tchouameni.

Referee Istvan Kovacs gave a free-kick against the Real Madrid player for handball, an offence which appeared really close to being inside the area.

It was checked by the VAR, Bastian Dankert, and when the referee jogged over to the pitchside monitor Liverpool fans inside Anfield cheered, expecting that a penalty was about to be awarded.

Except that’s not what was happening.

A factual decision, the position where the handball happened, would only be made by the VAR, not the referee.

A referee is only sent to the monitor to judge a subjective decision, in this case handball. So by going to the screen, the referee was overturning his decision to give the handball.

But how did we get from a free-kick to Liverpool to restarting with a dropped ball for goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois?

Because the handball factually took place inside the box, it’s a penalty. And a penalty is reviewable by the VAR.

If the handball had been confirmed as outside the area, the free-kick would have stood regardless of being right or wrong.

A foul given as a free-kick that is found to be inside the area doesn’t automatically mean the referee should check it at the monitor. The foul decision still has to be a clear and obvious error.

So, for the penalty Liverpool conceded through VAR at Brentford on 25 October, it was deemed the on-field call of a foul by Virgil van Dijk on Dango Ouattara wasn’t incorrect, just the position was wrong. The outcomes of these two incidents (free-kick to penalty to overturn) do not have to be the same.

It’s maybe surprising that the penalty was overturned in a Uefa competition, but it was the correct outcome. Kovacs likely felt Tchouameni’s arm was further out, but when the ball hit the hand of the Real Madrid player he had it very close to the body, with no horizontal barrier being created.

Because it’s an overturned penalty, play restarts with the goalkeeper – effectively meaning Liverpool give up their attacking possession.

The cheers of Liverpool fans turned to gasps.