The offside call against Luis Díaz was wrong because the VAR team mistakenly treated the on-field decision as if it were already correct, even though the replay showed Díaz was onside. In other words, the technology part worked, but the human process failed: the VAR said “check complete” after identifying that the goal should stand, and that ended the review too early.

What happened

Liverpool’s goal was disallowed for offside during the match against Tottenham, but later reviews showed the attacker was actually onside. PGMOL described it as a “significant human error” and said the decision should have been corrected by VAR.

Where the mistake occurred

The key error was not the lines or the image itself; PGMOL said the kick-point selection and the drawn line were correct, and the image showed Díaz was clearly onside. The problem came when the VAR lost focus and incorrectly communicated “check complete,” which effectively confirmed the original wrong offside decision.

Why it could not be fixed

By the time the VAR team realized the mistake, play had already restarted. Under the Laws of the Game and VAR protocol, they concluded they could not stop the match after restart to correct it.

Why people were angry

It was a huge moment in the match, and the error directly cost Liverpool a goal in a game they eventually lost 2-1. That is why the incident became one of the most criticized VAR mistakes in Premier League history.

TL;DR: the call was wrong because VAR internally recognized Díaz was onside but then gave the wrong final confirmation, and once play restarted the error could not be reversed.