Wolves write to referees’ chief Howard Webb after a ‘non-existent’ offside call against Liverpool

Wolves wrote to referee chief Howard Webb after a disallowed goal at Liverpool controversially denied them victory last weekend.

Toti Gomes thought he had put Wolves 3–2 late in the FA Cup third round tie, only to be flagged for offside. The decision was upheld by VAR despite there being no clear evidence that a Wolves player had been in an illegal position during the play.

But VAR did not have a camera angle available to provide evidence to overturn the decision and the teams will respond in Molineux on January 17.

Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui was outraged that the referee ruled out a late winner in Liverpool

Defender Toti Gomes thought he had scored the winning goal before VAR denied the goal.

The club have now written to referee chief Howard Webb for answers about the incident.

Lopetegui was due to address the media on Tuesday before Wednesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at Nottingham Forest, when he was expected to speak again on the matter.

At that time, the Spaniard and captain Rubén Neves asked referee Andy Madley for clarification. Lopetegui then said: ‘We have seen it, offside does not exist, I’m sorry. It is impossible.

Someone has told him offside, but we have seen the images, it does not exist.

‘The decision is wrong. I make mistakes every day, and sometimes they do too. Today we have the help of VAR, and it’s a shame, because I’m sorry, it’s not offside.

Confusingly, VAR did not have a camera angle to confirm the decision on the pitch, which was offside.

However, officials upheld the decision on the pitch to rule out the late Wolves winner.

The goal was disallowed because the referees believe that Matheus Nunes, who had taken a corner, was offside when the ball was returned to him.

Wolves were already frustrated that Mohamed Salah’s goal for Liverpool had stood, despite the striker being in an offside position when the cross was delivered. The officials judge that Toti’s clearance attempt, which fell to Salah, had put the Egyptian at stake.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp added: “I’m not sure about their third goal. We have a picture where it may look offside, but I can understand why they’re angry about it. We don’t want VAR to be just one angle. .

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said he can ‘understand’ Wolves’ frustration over the draw