Liverpool have a case: football is littered with replays when laws go wrong

Jurgen Klopp called for Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur to be replayed following the offside-goal fiasco that stopped his side taking the lead.

Telegraph Sport has been told such a dramatic move is not being considered by the Premier League, with its rules only allowing for such as part of its disciplinary procedures.

Calls for matches to be replayed following refereeing or other controversies are nothing new and there has been mixed success in teams being granted their wish.

Arsenal v Sheffield United, 1998-99 FA Cup fifth round

Arsenal were engulfed by a sportsmanship row over their winning goal when they beat United 2-1 at Highbury back in February 1999.

Marcelo had cancelled out Patrick Vieira’s opener for Arsenal when United’s Alan Kelly put the ball out of play after team-mate Lee Morris went down injured. Ray Parlour sportingly tried to return possession to the visitors from the resulting throw-in only for a seemingly-unaware Nwankwo Kanu to pounce on it and pass for Marc Overmars to score.

The goal sparked an ugly melee between players, staff and match officials and, after the game, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger immediately offered a replay. It was accepted and played 10 days later, resulting again in a 2-1 win.

Republic of Ireland v France, 2010 World Cup qualifying play-off second leg

An incident from which there was a truly extraordinary fall-out, the World Cup play-off between the Republic of Ireland and France had gone all the way to extra-time when Thierry Henry clearly handled the ball before crossing for William Gallas to score what proved the winner.

The Irish players immediately demanded the goal be disallowed but referee Martin Hansson and his team had seemingly failed to spot the obvious infringement and the Irish were ultimately eliminated.

Demands for a replay and threats of legal action followed, prompting then-Fifa president Sepp Blatter to suggest the bizarre solution of awarding Ireland a World Cup wildcard. In the end, the row was secretly resolved with cash, the Football Association of Ireland receiving a questionable €5 million Fifa “loan” that was eventually written off.

Norway v England, 2015 European Under-19 Women’s Championship qualifier

Another remarkable incident that resulted in the final seconds of this tie being replayed. England were trailing 2-1 deep into stoppage-time when they were awarded a penalty. Leah Williamson, the current injured Lionesses captain, scored the spot-kick but referee Marija Kurtes disallowed the goal due to encroachment and awarded Norway a free-kick.

However, the Laws of the Game state that the penalty should have been retaken and Uefa’s control, ethics and disciplinary body said it had no choice but to order the players back onto the field five days on.

Williamson duly dispatched the retaken penalty and, after a nervy 18 seconds following kick-off, the game finished 2-2. Both countries ultimately qualified for the finals and were drawn together again in the same group but neither made it to the knockout stage.

Aston Villa v Sheff United, 2019-20 Premier League

Villa avoided relegation by one point that season, thanks in part to a draw in the first game of Project Restart, in which their opponents were wrongly denied a goal when the ball clearly crossed the line. The goal-line technology system failed to alert referee Michael Oliver that Villa goalkeeper Orjan Nyland had fumbled a free-kick over the line due to all cameras being obscured and no check of the match footage was made by the Video Assistant Referee.

This time for United, no offer of a replay was forthcoming. Villa later pipped Bournemouth to Premier League survival, and the latter did discuss at the end of that season whether they had any recourse, but their relegation ultimately stood.

Miami FC v Pittsburgh Riverhounds, 2021 United Soccer League Championship

Howard Webb, the current PGMOL chief, was head of the Professional Referee Organization in the United States when another bizarre failure to correctly apply the Laws of the Game saw the final quarter of this match replayed.

The game was goalless when Miami goalkeeper Connor Sparrow allowed a backpass from Janos Lobe – which in turn followed a free-kick from team-mate Devon Williams – to squirm past him into the net for an own goal. But it was disallowed after the officials misapplied a law that states if a player puts the ball directly into his or her own net from a free-kick, a corner should be given, not a goal.

The game, which ended 0-0, was replayed from the 66th minute with Pittsburgh 1-0 up. No further goals followed.