Gary Neville rages at VAR for ‘killing one of the great moments’ as City beat Liverpool | Football | Sport

Gary Neville was left utterly furious with VAR as Manchester City staged a dramatic comeback to beat Liverpool on away soil. Erling Haaland’s late penalty snatched all three points for the visitors after Bernardo Silva had equalised following Dominik Szoboszlai’s stunning free-kick opener. City thought they had added a third in the dying seconds when Rayan Cherki rolled the ball into an empty net from the halfway line, with Alisson having ventured up the pitch as Liverpool pushed for a leveller.

However, the strike was ruled out following a VAR intervention for a foul by Szoboszlai, who was sent off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity. He pulled back Haaland as the pair battled to reach the ball first, with the City striker also grabbing his rival’s shirt. After checking the pitchside monitor, referee Craig Pawson ruled out the goal, awarded a free-kick to City and showed Szoboszlai the red card.

Neville, who was on co-commentary duties for Sky Sports, was left totally baffled by the decision and suggested that VAR had robbed fans of a truly iconic moment.

He fumed: “Oh, no. I honestly can’t believe that’s going to happen because the first foul is Szoboszlai on Haaland. I think the referee saw that they both fouled each other. I just don’t get this.

“Look, he’s fouled him there, that’s a foul. He’s saying you cannot play advantage, but then ignores that. It feels so unjust. I know there are rules but there is a smell of the game. It’s completely gone.

“I don’t think he will be okay, the referee, because he will realise that he made the right decision [initially]. There is no football person who would disallow that goal but it’s going to be disallowed. He [Szoboszlai] will walk.

“Talk about a killjoy. Liverpool lose by getting a man sent off. City lose by not getting a goal. Everyone is just asking the question. Just let the goal be, let the goal be. You’ve just killed one of the great moments of the season.

“They cannot play advantage because of the clear foul from Haaland on Szoboszlai, so they’ve unravelled everything back to nothing.

“Nobody is happy, the Liverpool fans know it’s not right and the City fans know it’s not right. There will be somebody saying that rules are rules but that doesn’t feel right at all.”