“I think the attention [the incidents have received] is based on the fact that there is a VAR. Without VAR, the situations on the pitch happen and the human being, the referee, makes mistakes,” Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho said, as quoted by Goal.
"And you know me for quite a few years – it was difficult for me to accept the human mistakes but I learned and in this moment, I always accept the referee’s mistakes.
“What we don’t accept is the VAR mistakes. So I think if the referee of that match [the Merseyside derby], 100 mph, the situation happened, the linesman gives an offside, everybody would say: 'Ok, it was a bad tackle but it happened and it’s done'. But the problem was there was a VAR.
“The Porto goalkeeper could be now with a broken leg. And nobody understands how a broken leg for a Porto goalkeeper is transformed into a penalty against them.
"If the referee makes that mistake, everybody understands because the game is 100mph but with the VAR, how can that VAR make that mistake? And the situation of Pickford for me is the same. It’s the VAR, it’s not the referee.”
The incident with a Porto goalkeeper Mourinho refers to happened in their game against Man City last mid-week: Ilkay Gundogan miraculously escaped a red card for a serious foul on Agustin Marchesin and moments later, Pep Guardiola's team were awarded a penalty instead.
Liverpool have suffered from two apparent VAR mistakes recently: just seven days after Jordan Pickford went unpunished for a horrific tackle on Virgil van Dijk, Sheffield United were given a penalty in mysterious circumstances.
