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Why Jarell Quansah’s goal for Liverpool was disallowed against Toulouse

Liverpool fell to just their second defeat of the 2023/24 season in all competitions as they were beaten 3-2 by Toulouse in the Europa League on Thursday night.

The Reds were below-par for much of the encounter as they went 2-0 down before the hour mark at Stadium de Toulouse after goals from Aron Donnum and Thijs Dallinga.

Cristian Casseres’ own goal offered Liverpool a lifeline before strikes from Frank Magri and Diogo Jota. Jarell Quansah looked to have nicked a point deep into second-half stoppage time only for the officials to rule his effort out for an earlier infringement.

Here’s why what would have been the young defender’s first ever professional goal was chalked off.

Alexis Mac Allister’s control of the ball a few attacking phases before Quansah struck caught the eye of video assistant referee Dragomir Draganov, who instructed on-field Georgi Kabakov to review the footage.

UEFA state goals can be disallowed for any handball in the attacking build-up.

However, the UEFA Football Board made the following recommendation to UEFA with their guidelines saying: “No handball offence should be called on a player if the ball is previously deflected from his own body and, in particular, when the ball does not go towards the goal.”

That recommendation has not been made a factual change of interpretation this season. Mac Allister and Liverpool would certainly argue his attempt to control the ball falls under those guidelines.

The Argentine could also point to his arm being withdrawn and close to the body as mitigating factors.

13 seconds elapsed from the handball to Quansah’s disallowed goal. Mac Allister played a pass to Trent Alexander-Arnold, whose cross into the middle was cleared away. Dominik Szoboszlai clipped the ball into the box where Darwin Nunez and Quansah tussled before the latter connected.

UEFA rules add a defensive clearance back to the opposition is not a reset of the phase of attack unless it is upfield. This is different to the Premier League’s use of VAR.

The English top-flight’s guidelines advise: “The VAR will only check the attacking possession phase that led to the penalty or goal.

“The starting point will be limited to the immediate phase. The VAR may not go back to when the attacking team gained possession.

“The VAR will consider the ability of the opposing defence to reset, and the momentum of the attack.”

Jurgen KloppJurgen Klopp

Klopp wasn’t overly impressed by the decision / Jean Catuffe/GettyImages

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was hardly chipper about Quansah’s disallowed goal but did admit his side plainly weren’t good enough in defeat at Toulouse.

He said: “I am a bit more concerned about [the fact that] I would have loved us to have played better, to be honest. That’s my main issue.

“It was well deserved to lose because [Toulouse] won pretty much all the decisive challenges [and] battles.”

Europa League Group E

Pos

Team

Played

GD

Pts

1.

Liverpool

4

+7

9

2.

Toulouse

4

-2

7

3.

Union Saint-Gilloise

4

-4

4

4.

LASK

4

-1

3

Defender Joe Gomez was similarly keen to avoid being dragged into a VAR debate, adding: “They made it difficult for us with the atmosphere but it’s on us. It’s frustrating that the decision didn’t go for us but we shouldn’t have been in this position in the first place.

“I think everyone is obviously complaining about it but we have to control the game and it’s easy for us to moan and complain about the decision but I think they will look at it and if it’s a goal, it’s a goal and if it’s not, it’s not. It is what it is and we can’t control that.”

The loss means Liverpool missed the chance to qualify for the Europa League knockout stages at the earliest point possible, but they are still primed to take top spot with upcoming games against fourth and third-place LASK and Union Saint-Gilloise.

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