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Football London
Football London
Sport
Aaron Catterson-Reid

Why Joel Matip's goal was disallowed during Chelsea and Liverpool's Carabao Cup final

Liverpool star Joel Matip saw his Carabao Cup final goal against Chelsea chalked off after Virgil van Dijk was deemed to have interfered with play.

Matip headed in from close range via a Trent Alexander-Anrold free-kick deep into the second half, breaking the deadlock before VAR told referee Stuart Atwell to review the decision, with the official eventually deciding to disallow the Cameroonian international's goal.

Dutch centre-half van Dijk had drifted into an offside position and despite not touching the ball, the 30-year-old was deemed to have interfered with play, blocking Blues right-back Reece James from defending Sadio Mane's assist.

The FA's rules state: "A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched* by a team-mate is only penalised on becoming involved in active play by: interfering with play by playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate or interfering with an opponent by: preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or challenging an opponent for the ball or clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball."

Manchester United icon Gary Neville weighed in on the situation, claiming that the former Celtic star did indeed block James from getting to the ball.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville said: "Maybe it was a ploy, Matip high fives van Dijk and van Dijk’s got a lot to play in this goal.

"Watch van Dijk at the back post, he blocks James, Mane just peels round the back and it’s the perfect header back across goal. It was a ploy, a training ground one."

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