Lopetegui bemused by ´impossible´ no-goal call after Wolves held to FA Cup draw

Julen Lopetegui described Wolves’ disallowed goal in their FA Cup clash with Liverpool as “impossible” after they played out a 2-2 third-round draw at Anfield.

Goals for Goncalo Guedes and Hwang Hee-chan came either side of finishes for Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah in a chaotic encounter on Merseyside.

But the visitors saw a late winner struck off for Tote Gomes, after a linesman’s call deemed the corner taker to be offside in the build-up.

VAR was unable to get a suitable angle to overturn the decision and therefore let it stand, in a call that infuriated Lopetegui, who made his frustration clear afterwards.

“We have seen it, and the offside doesn’t exist,” he told ITV. “It’s impossible, but someone has told him that it is offside. We have seen the image, and it doesn’t exist.

“The decision is wrong. I make mistakes every day, and sometimes they do too. Today we have the help of VAR, and it is a pity, because I’m sorry, it’s not offside.”

A valiant effort but we couldn’t quite come away with the win.

A big thank you for your support at Anfield this evening. We’ll need you again on Wednesday night pic.twitter.com/5cNLWHI2gg

— Wolves (@Wolves) January 7, 2023

Lopetegui was complimentary towards referee Andy Madley, telling BBC’s Match of the Day he was “very polite” when he and captain Bruno Neves took the decision up after the final whistle.

“That is a good thing for me, that is not usual in Spain,” he added “I love talking, only to show him the offside doesn’t exist. It is very clear.”

The call to cancel out the goal rankled harder for Lopetegui after Salah was effectively played onside for his own strike by a botched clearance attempt by Tote Gomes earlier on.

Lopetegui sought to draw a line under it however, adding to ITV: “It has happened now. We have to accept it. It is a pity because deserved to win against a fantastic team like Liverpool.”