GARY NEVILLE was left fuming as Manchester City’s 100th minute clincher was controversially ruled out at Liverpool.
Rayan Cherki thought that he had put some gloss on City’s dramatic turnaround at Anfield, only for his goal to eventually be disallowed following a lengthy VAR check.
With City leading 2-1 Liverpool piled men forward in the hunt for an equaliser, including goalkeeper Alisson.
As the Brazilian stopper was caught up field, Cherki was able to roll the ball towards the unguarded net from the centre circle.
This prompted an almighty race between Dominik Szoboszlai and Erling Haaland.
It looked for all the world as if Haaland would speed past Szoboszlai and tap the ball into the net.
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But the Norwegian was tugged back by his opponent, who then steamed ahead.
Haaland then yanked Szoboszlai back, which led to neither of them reaching the ball, and Cherki being credited with the goal.
Epic celebrations would follow… only for VAR to then intervene.
Referee Craig Pawson initially let both pulls go, allowing the goal to stand after Haaland had been fouled first.
But after being sent to the monitor, the referee was forced to follow the letter of the law.
Pawson deemed that the goal had to be disallowed, as Haaland had fouled Szoboszlai.
But with Szoboszlai having first pulled back the striker, thus denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, the Hungarian was shown a red card.
With the incident having occurred deep in stoppage time, the match only briefly resumed before the final whistle went, confirming City’s 2-1 victory.
Watching on a co-commentator for Sky Sports, Neville felt that the way the VAR intervention played out left a sour taste.
The Manchester United legend said: “Talk about a killjoy! They have just killed one of the great moments of the season.”
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