Micah Richards calls out VAR after costly error in Liverpool’s loss to Man Utd

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Liverpool came from two goals down to equalise against Manchester United, but still ended up suffering defeat against their bitter rivals.The Reds were hard done by on the day, seeing Benjamin Sesko handle the ball before scoring Man Utd’s second of the day.It was looked at by VAR at the time, and after the officials chose to award the goal, Micah Richards has questioned why they did not see that the ball had touched Sesko’s hand. Can someone explain why this was allowed to stand?

Apparently United are allowed to handle balls into the net now 😤 Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images VAR should have spotted Benjamin Sesko’s handball vs Man UtdSpeaking on The Rest is Football podcast alongside Alan Shearer, Richards was surprised VAR did not spot the error.He said: “Handball. It’s as simple as that.“I’ve seen angles where the ball deviates and the motion of the ball changes.

So it’s handball and if I can see that with my eyesight, surely VAR can see that.”Alan Shearer, who was speaking alongside the former Manchester City defender, shared a similar verdict.He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, the law is if it hits his hand who scores the goal, any part of his hand, it has to be disallowed.”Rousing The Kop spoke exclusively to former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg about Sesko’s handball, and he agreed it should not have stood.Premier League response to Benjamin Sesko handballHowever, the Premier League issued a statement over the weekend about the incident on their official X/Twitter account.They stated: “The referee’s call of goal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed there was no conclusive evidence that Sesko handled the ball before scoring.”However, multiple replays shown on Sky Sports during and after the clash showed that the ball clearly touched the forward’s hand. So, it does beg the question, what were VAR actually looking at?Had Liverpool won, or even drawn, they could have been much closer to securing a Champions League place.But instead, Bournemouth have narrowed the gap to six points ahead of the Reds, facing Chelsea, Aston Villa and a Europe-chasing Brentford in the final few weeks of the campaign.Join Our NewsletterReceive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox