VAR expert offers detailed explanation as to why Liverpool are right to fume over Bergvall call
Lucas Bergvall scored Tottenham’s match-winning goal against Liverpool in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday night, but he could count himself lucky to have still been on the pitch at the time.
The 18-year-old was already on a yellow card when he scythed down Kostas Tsimikas in the closing minutes in north London, but Stuart Attwell neglected to book him a second time, a crucial oversight as the teenager swiftly conjured up the game’s decisive moment.
Virgil van Dijk was insistent that the Spurs youngster should’ve been sent off before scoring the winner, and even Ange Postecoglou expressed sympathy for his opposite number Arne Slot in his post-match press duties.
Impartial journalist explains why Bergvall should’ve been sent off
Liverpool fans are rightly fuming over the matter, and an impartial journalist has observed that the ire of Kopites is justified.
ESPN FC editor Dale Johnson – who regularly offers commentary and insight on contentious refereeing/VAR decisions – posted a thread on X in which he comprehensively explained by Attwell was wrong to let Bergvall off the hook for his challenge on Tsimikas.
The main takeaways from the journalist’s analysis were:
- It was a reckless tackle rather than a careless one to stop a promising attack, and should therefore have been punished with a yellow card
- Attwell didn’t play advantage (despite Postecoglou suggesting as much after the game), having not deemed it a foul
- The law doesn’t allow for the referee to have played advantage, even if he did view Bergvall’s challenge as stopping a promising attack
- If Attwell had told the managers that he played advantage and didn’t show a yellow card as it was stopping a promising attack, he’d still have been admitting to an error
- Attwell could’ve played advantage if he felt the challenge was careless (no yellow card sanction), but no advantage can be played if it’s deemed a reckless challenge or stopping a promising attack, in which case a second yellow card would’ve been warranted
That should have been a second yellow for Lucas Bergvall.
It wasn't an attempt to stop a promising attack, which wouldn't result in a caution if the move plays out.
It was a reckless tackle, and should have been a booking regardless of the attack. #TOTLIV
— Dale Johnson (@DaleJohnsonESPN) January 8, 2025
Bergvall makes the most of Attwell error
Johnson’s detailed explanation highlights that Attwell made an error by not deeming Bergvall’s challenge on Tsimikas to have been reckless – how he intepreted it as not even a foul (i.e. by not playing advantage) seems baffling.
When we routinely see yellow cards being doled out for miniscule fouls or harmless offences such as mild dissent, it boggles the mind as to how incidents like this can go without sanction. We don’t want to see players being dismissed for a second booking when one isn’t warranted, but in this instance it very much was.
The ESPN journalist has offered an impartial and comprehensive analysis as to why the referee got it wrong, and it’s one that PGMOL chief Howard Webb would be wise to take note of when next briefing the officials under his jurisdiction.
Bergvall is a hugely talented young player with a high ceiling, and Tottenham’s overall performance merited a result as they punished a substandard display from Liverpool, but the manner in which the winning goal came about is definitely hard to swallow.
Alas, the Reds can’t change history and will simply need to put things right in the second leg next month, as well as getting their season back on track after two poor results to begin the calendar year.
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