Liverpool vs Man City VAR intervention to disallow Rayan Cherki goal and send off Dominik Szoboszlai ruined golden moment, says Gary Neville

Gary Neville says the decision to overturn Rayan Cherki's late goal from the halfway line in Manchester City's win over Liverpool erased one of the moments of the season and provided ammunition for those who feel VAR is ruining football.

Cherki's low effort, with Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson caught upfield, sparked wild Manchester City celebrations at Anfield but the goal was ruled out following a VAR check due to a foul by Erling Haaland on Dominik Szoboszlai as they sprinted towards the empty net.

Haaland's foul meant referee Craig Pawson had to then consider an earlier pull by Szoboszlai on Haaland, and send the Liverpool player off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.

On co-commentary for Sky Sports at the time of the incident, Neville said: "That feels so unjust, I know there are rules, but there is the smell of the game, it's completely gone.

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"There is no person who would disallow that goal. But it's going to be disallowed. Talk about killjoy. Liverpool lose by getting a man sent off. City lose because they don't get a goal.

"You have just killed one of the moments of the season."

The Sky Sports pundit elaborated on his frustration in The Gary Neville Podcast afterwards.

"We know that the referee and the VAR officials have got to the right conclusion, but if you're in the camp that VAR's ruining football and VAR takes the joy and entertainment out of the game, that is one of the best bits of evidence that you could possibly want," said Neville.

"That was a great football moment where you just got absolute bedlam at the end of a game, players fouling each other, the ball dribbling in the net, a team coming from 1-0 down who have hardly ever won at Anfield and basically gone on to win 3-1.

"There were fans celebrating with the players on the pitch after a bit of a mini-invasion from a couple of City fans.

"It's a classic English football moment in a season. If City were to start narrowing the gap on Arsenal, you'd look at that as being the celebration, the moment.

"I think 10 City players on the bench ran over and celebrated with Haaland. It just felt like a golden moment that is taken away from the game.

"Liverpool fans didn't particularly want it at that point, they knew the game had gone, and now Szoboszlai gets a red card. He's off and doesn't play in their next game.

"No one wins. If I'm being cold about it, the referee and the VAR officials have got to the right decision.

"However, something didn't smell right about it at all. They didn't need to intervene.

"I'm not saying that you can be subjective about when you intervene in the emotion of a football match.

"You've got to apply the rules and the laws, or else we'd go crazy, and if that had been nil-nil, we'd have said, 'Absolutely, make sure you make the right decision'. But at that moment it just didn't feel right."

Haaland: Just let the goal stand

Haaland felt sorry for Szoboszlai, who will be suspended for Liverpool's midweek trip to Sunderland, and said the officials should have just let the goal stand.

Haaland mistakenly thought his former Red Bull Salzburg team-mate would be banned for three games, rather than one, but questioned the need for VAR to intervene.

"Of course, the referee had to follow the rules but this will give him three games. In the end I feel bad for him because he gets three games [sic]," the striker told Sky Sports.

"Just give the goal, don't give a red card. Simple as that.

"It's the rules and it's how it is.

"If Cherki just passed me the ball so I can score... but he didn't want to, so that's just how it is!"

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola echoed Haaland's comments.

"Common sense, no?" he said in his press conference when asked about the incident.

"We won the game and now Szoboszlai cannot play. I know he pulled him, but there are many pulls in a game where the referee says, 'Play on, play on, play on'.

"In this country, in this league, it's always been like that. So, give a goal, 3-1, Szoboszlai can play and we are happy."

(c) Sky Sports 2026: Liverpool vs Man City VAR intervention to disallow Rayan Cherki goal and send off Dominik Szoboszlai ruined golden moment, says Gary Neville