Jordan Henderson Jokes VAR 'Bend the Lines' to Give Offside Decisions

17 October 2020 06:30

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson was left thoroughly fed up with VAR after his injury-time winner in the Merseyside derby was chalked off for the most marginal of offside decisions.

The Reds had to settle for a share of the spoils after being pegged back twice by Everton, a Michael Keane header cancelling out Sadio Mane's strike and Dominic Calvert-Lewin's 10th goal of the season drawing the Toffees level once more after Mohamed Salah had given Liverpool a 2-1 lead.

Henderson thought he had earned his side a last gasp 3-2 victory, but Mane was judged to be offside in the buildup.

"It does [feel cruel]. You know better than me, with the offside rule it must be [offside], with VAR - that everyone wants." an exasperated Henderson told BT Sport at full time.

"I think they bend the lines sometimes to make it offside," he added with a smile.

Henderson's disallowed goal was not the only controversial officiating decision to occur at Goodison, with Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford fortunate to escape without punishment after a late tackle on Virgil van Dijk forced the Liverpool defender off after 11 minutes.

The Liverpool captain revealed that Pickford had apologised to him at full time regarding the challenge.

"Everyone keeps asking me so about him so I'm guessing you see it as a red card so it must not have been good challenge," Henderson added. "But to be fair Jordan came up to me and apologised after the game and asked me to tell Virgil."

Henderson revealed Pickford apologised for his tackle on van Dijk | Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was left similarly bemused by his skipper's disallowed goal, in addition to Pickford's late challenge and Richarlison's tackle on Thiago which resulted in the Everton forward seeing red.

"Pickford kicks Van Dijk completely," Klopp said. "I didn't see it back but I saw Henderson's goal from Sadio's pass. I didn't see offside. Maybe someone can explain it to me.

"It's not just a red card on Thiago, it's a messy foul and now we don't know what [injury] he has. It looks not good to be honest."

Source: 90min