James Maddison playfully took a jab at his England teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold following the VAR controversy that followed Tottenham’s victory over Liverpool.
Tottenham secured a 2-1 win over Liverpool on September 30, a match in which Luis Diaz had a first-half goal incorrectly ruled out for offside.
The PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) later admitted to a “significant human error” in making the offside call shortly after the match ended. Audio recordings from the VAR room were released, revealing the chaos and realization of the mistake.
In the days following the match, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp called for a replay of the Premier League match, though it was uncertain if that would occur.
As Maddison and Alexander-Arnold arrived at St George’s Park with the rest of the England squad for upcoming games against Australia and Italy, Maddison couldn’t resist making a playful dig at Alexander-Arnold, seemingly referencing the VAR controversy.
Sharing a picture of Alexander-Arnold gesturing towards him, Maddison wrote on Instagram: ‘Still asking for a replay!’
Joel Matip’s last-second own goal cost Liverpool the match in north London, while Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota receiving red cards added to Klopp’s frustration.
The Reds manager acknowledged that VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook made a mistake, which he believed to be an honest one, but he maintained that other options could have been considered during the game, including Spurs allowing his team to score a goal without being challenged to make up for the mistake.
‘The argument is if we open that gate, it is so unprecedented. I am 56 years old, I am used to wrong decisions, all these kind of things. But something like that never happened,’ Klopp said.
‘If it would happen again then I think the replay would be the right thing to do, or the ref has the opportunity to bring both coaches together and say “sorry we made a mistake but we can sort it, let Liverpool score a goal and we start from there.’”