Referee Stuart Attwell made the historic first in-stadium VAR announcement to disallow a Dominic Solanke goal in Tottenham Hotspur’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg win over Liverpool on Wednesday, but Lucas Bergvall’s late winning goal was the game’s most controversial moment.
Liverpool were on the unfortunate end of a technicality at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Bergvall was on a yellow card when he fouled Kostas Tsimikas with Liverpool on the break at 0-0.
Attwell allowed Liverpool to continue and chose not to return to Bergvall’s challenge to issue a second yellow card and send Bergvall off. The 18-year-old went on to win the match with his first Spurs goal. But should he have been on the pitch to score it?
Why wasn’t Bergvall sent off before scoring against Liverpool?
Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou thinks so and didn’t shrink from explaining why after the game.
“No, he wasn’t [lucky to be on the pitch], because the rule is, and we’ve been told for quite a while now, that if advantage gets played, as long as it’s not a cynical tackle then the yellow card’s not there,” he told Sky Sports.
“We’ve been screaming for it for the last two months. It’s happened to us consistently. Have a look at our games. We’ve asked the officials and they’ve said, ‘If we play advantage, as long as it’s not a cynical tackle, then the yellow card doesn’t get played.’ Now, to me, that was pretty clear.”
The level of cynicism in the tackle and, crucially, whether it qualified as reckless are certainly up for debate but the Reds were left with a three-on-three just outside the Tottenham penalty area as Attwell’s advantage accrued nicely for Arne Slot’s side.
To add injury to insult, Tsimikas was off the pitch having received treatment when Bergvall scored. Liverpool manager Arne Slot knows the rule too and highlighted that the nature of the challenge in question matters as much as the advantage.
“If you stop a counter-attack with a reckless challenge then he could still give his yellow but he didn’t see it as a reckless challenge. Probably that’s the second thing we can debate about,” he said to Sky Sports.
The Laws of the Game 2024/25 covers disciplinary action under Law 12 Section 3, which has a specific section clarifying disciplinary action in cases in which advantage is played.
“If the referee plays the advantage for an offence for which a caution/sending-off would have been issued had play been stopped, this caution/sending-off must be issued when the ball is next out of play,” it reads.
“However, if the offence was denying the opposing team an obvious goal-scoring opportunity the player is cautioned for unsporting behaviour; if the offence was interfering with or stopping a promising attack, the player is not cautioned.”
That’s the clause that backs up Postecoglou’s view but it’s also where things start to get more complicated.
“Advantage should not be applied in situations involving serious foul play, violent conduct or a second cautionable offence unless there is a clear opportunity to score a goal.”
Attwell was correct to play the advantage. Luis Diaz collected the ball from Bergvall’s challenge and Liverpool were away. But the officials interpreted Bergvall’s would-be offence as “interfering with or stopping a promising attack” and subsequently let him off the hook.
Had they deemed the foul to be worth a second caution in its own right, Bergvall would have been dismissed and not on the pitch to score the winning goal.