Sports
VAR review: Analyzing VAR drama for Liverpool’s Mac Allister
Video assistant referee causes controversy every week in the Premier League, but how are decisions made, and are they correct?
This season, we take a look at the major incidents to examine and explain the process, both in terms of VAR protocol and the Laws of the Game.
Screenshot credit: BBC, TNT
Andy Davies (@andydaviesref) is a former Select Group referee, with over 12 seasons on the elite list, working across the Premier League and Championship. With extensive experience at the elite level, he has operated within the VAR space in the Premier League and offers a unique insight into the processes, rationale and protocols that are delivered on a Premier League matchday.
Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool
Referee: Anthony Taylor
VAR: Paul Tierney
Time: 90 minutes
Incident: Liverpool have a goal overturned for a handball offense in the buildup.
What happened: Forest defender Ola Aina attempted to clear the ball, but the ball rebounded off Alexis Mac Allister and into the goal.
VAR decision: After a VAR review, the referee overturned the original decision of goal to Liverpool.
Taylor’s announcement revealed: “After review, the ball hits the arm of the goal scorer, Liverpool No. 10 [Mac Allister]. Therefore, it’s an accidental handball by the goal scorer, so the final decision is a direct free kick.”
VAR review: A quick review by Tierney identified that the ball had deflected off part of the arm of Mac Allister before it went into the Forest goal (with the tolerance level at the sleeve level).
Verdict: This was a correct VAR intervention for this overturn, regardless of how harsh it will feel on Liverpool.
The law states that a goal can’t be scored by the use of hand/arm even if it is accidental or a non-deliberate act.
Time: 97 minutes
Incident: A VAR check for offside on Virgil van Dijk ahead of Mac Allister’s goal.
What happened: Mac Allister smashed the ball home, but a VAR check was needed for Van Dijk when the cross came in, as the Netherlands defender played a big part in Mac Allister being able to get to the ball.
VAR decision: After a VAR review, the goal was allowed to stand.
VAR review: Another relatively quick review, as the semi-automated technology showed Van Dijk was marginally onside.
Verdict: A tight one, but Van Dijk was indeed just onside, despite what the initial replays looked like.
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Manchester City 2-1 Newcastle United
Referee: Tom Bramall
VAR: James Bell
Time: 42 minutes
Incident: Disallowed goal for offside.
What happened? Newcastle’s Dan Burn nodded home a Sandro Tonali free kick, only for the goal to be disallowed for offside. However, the replays showed that Burn was in an offside position only because he was pushed by City defender Rúben Dias.
VAR decision: The VAR checked and cleared the on-field decision of no goal, confirming that an offside offense had been committed.
VAR review: Bell would have been very aware that there was a deliberate action by Dias on Burn prior to the goal being scored. With the Newcastle defender clearly in an offside position when he scores, the VAR check centered around the possible foul leading up to the goal and whether it met the criteria for a possible penalty kick.
It was a clear and deliberate push; however, the ball had not been played by Tonali at the moment the push occurred, and therefore the VAR was unable to intervene as the ball was not active.
Indeed, Law 12 says: Direct and indirect free kicks and penalty kicks can only be awarded for offenses committed when the ball is in play.
Verdict: Watching the replays, Newcastle players and their supporters will feel hard done by in this situation, which is understandable. The reality is that this was a calculated action by Dias and the City backline, who clearly understood the law and timed the push to perfection.
Within the laws of the game, no offense could have been committed here, and only the referee can intervene to manage physical contact prior to the ball being in play. The VAR has no jurisdiction to get involved without the ball in play, unless an act of violent conduct has occurred, which was not the case here.
Time: 51 minutes
Incident: Possible second yellow card for Man City’s Bernardo Silva
What happened: Silva had already been cautioned, but minutes later, he appeared to jump into Burn with no attempt to play the ball. Was he fortunate not to receive a second yellow card?
VAR decision: The VAR did not view this a possible red card challenge, and under the current rules, they are unable to intervene in possible second yellow card situations (only in straight red decisions).
Verdict: For a referee to send a player off for a second yellow card in this type of situation, they are looking for the challenge to be above their threshold. It has to hit you immediately as a second yellow without a second thought, and you know it in the moment.
Watching this clip in isolation, Silva is fortunate not to have received a second yellow for what was an unnecessary challenge as he made no attempt to play the ball.
However, in the context of a physical game, it wasn’t a standout moment and not one that would have caused Bramall too much discomfort in real time.
There are the moments in big games when you trust your instincts, and I felt this was sensible game management, as awarding a second yellow card was not the most obvious outcome.
Pakistan made a sizzling start to their Fifa Series campaign with a record-breaking 8-0 victory over the Turks and Caicos Islands at the Stade Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan on Thursday.
Four goals by four different scorers in the first half set the tone for Adeel Rizki’s side before two more players got their names on the scoresheet as Pakistan surpassed their previous-best victory — 7-0 against the Maldives in September 2022.
Pakistan made their attacking intent clear from the very beginning when Mariam Mahmood, fresh from winning the Welsh league title with Wrexham Women, struck the side netting with a shot from an acute angle inside the first four minutes.
After Nadia Khan tested Turks and Caicos goalkeeper Archenie Desir with a shot from long range, Pakistan opened the scoring in the 10th minute with Zahmena Malik finding the back of the net.
It was 2-0 two minutes later, Aqsa Mushtaq slotting in after a rebound after Mariam had forced a save from Desir.
Pakistan continued to press with midfield metronome Layla Banaras showing her quality when she made it 3-0 with a weaving run and smart finish just past the half-hour mark.
In a game where Pakistan had pinned their opponents in the opposing half for almost the entirety of the match, Mariam got on the scoresheet in the 38th when she expertly volleyed in a cross at the back post.
Pakistan continued in the same vein in the second half, Nadia planting a perfect header to a cross from the left in the 56th to make it 5-0.
Aqsa scored a pearler to make it 6-0 in the 76th before Layla also got her second with a perfectly-placed shot from outside the box. Isra Khan’s goal in the 81st completed the record-breaking triumph.
PFF president Mohsen Gilani hailed the historic win. “I congratulate the players and the coaching staff for creating history. This is the start of a new era for women’s football in Pakistan and I hope the team continues in the same vein in the Fifa series.”
The Big Ten Conference amassed nearly $70 million from NCAA distributions that will be paid for team appearances and performances in the 2026 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
That is by far the most among conferences, largely because the Big Ten swept the national championships — Michigan won the men’s and UCLA the women’s — and had Illinois‘ men’s team advance to the Final Four.
The NCAA, which has multibillion-dollar broadcast deals for the two tournaments, since 1991 has rewarded conferences for their number of tournament bids and how far those teams advance in the men’s tournament. A similar system for the women’s tournament began in 2025.
For this year’s tournaments, nine men’s teams and 12 women’s teams from the Big Ten combined to make at least $69.4 million, with $63 million coming from the men’s side.
The Southeastern Conference, which had 10 teams in each tournament, totaled at least $56.2 million ($50.4 million for men, $5.8 million for women). Other distributions will total at least $42.9 million for the Big 12, $34.2 million for the Atlantic Coast Conference and $22.2 million for the Big East.
The NCAA sends payments directly to the conferences, which distribute the money among their teams according to their policies. Payments for the 2026 tournament will begin in April 2027.
Teams in each tournament earn what’s known as a “unit” for making the field of 68 and an additional unit for each round in which it appears. The national champion is awarded an extra unit. The value of a unit increases each year. A portion of revenue from the tournaments’ broadcast agreements are directed to distribution payments — 24% for the men and 41% for the women.
The estimated value of a unit for the 2026 men’s tournament will be about $350,000, an NCAA spokeswoman said, and that amount will be paid annually for six years. A single unit earned in 2026 would have a total value of at least $2.1 million over those six years and probably more because Division I distribution funds — including the basketball funds — are scheduled to increase each year, typically by 2.9%.
For the women’s tournament, full funding for units earned will be achieved in 2027. Payments for each unit earned will be made for three years rather than six. The unit value was $75,000 for 2026 and will decrease to about $63,000 next year as part of the NCAA’s formula for getting the fund fully up and running. Using $63,000 as an estimate for the 2028 value, a single unit earned in 2026 would be worth at least $201,000 by the time it is paid off over three years.
The Big Ten’s nine teams in the men’s tournament appeared in 29 games. Michigan earned $14.7 million for the conference by playing in six games and receiving a seventh unit for winning the championship. Illinois earned five units for making the Final Four ($10.5 million) and Iowa and Purdue four apiece for reaching the Elite Eight ($8.4 million each).
The Big Ten landed 12 teams in the women’s tournament, and they combined to play in 31 games. UCLA earned just over $1.4 million by playing in six games and receiving an extra unit for winning the championship. Michigan‘s four games earned $804,000 and Minnesota‘s three earned $603,000.
The championships in men’s and women’s basketball continued what has been a banner 2025-26 for the Big Ten. Indiana won the conference’s third straight College Football Playoff, and other national championships have been won in men’s wrestling (Penn State), women’s ice hockey (Wisconsin), men’s water polo (UCLA), men’s soccer (Washington) and field hockey (Northwestern).
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Super Bowl champion LeSean McCoy took to the defense of New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and New York Times/The Athletic NFL reporter Dianna Russini.
Photos originally published by the New York Post’s Page Six showed the coach and journalist holding hands, hugging and sitting in a pool in bathing suits at a resort bungalow in Sedona, Arizona. While a lot of people have been highly critical of Vrabel and Russini, McCoy took no issue with it.
“I like Mike, I love Mike. I mind my business. They work together,” McCoy told TMZ Sports.
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back LeSean McCoy runs with the football against the Kansas City Chiefs during Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on Feb. 7, 2021. (Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports)
“Everybody makes something big out of everything. He’s a big-time coach, he’s a big-time player. He was just in the Super Bowl, they got something to talk about. That’s what happened.”
“I ain’t see nothing wrong with it.”
Both Vrabel and Russini are married, and both denied any wrongdoing. Vrabel married his wife, Jen, in 1999, and they have two sons together. The 50-year-old coach said the interaction was completely innocent.
“These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable,” Vrabel told the New York Post. “This doesn’t deserve any further response.”
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel watches during the first half of the AFC Championship NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Russini, who married her husband Kevin Goldschmidt in 2020 and they have two sons together, said the photos misrepresented what actually occurred.
“The photos don’t represent the group of six people who were hanging out during the day. Like most journalists in the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues,” Russini told the New York Post.
Vrabel took the Patriots to the Super Bowl in his first season as the Patriots head coach and won NFL Coach of the Year for the second time in his career.
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Dianna Russini attends the 2026 Fanatics Super Bowl Party at Pier 48 in San Francisco, California, on Feb. 7, 2026. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
Russini, 43, joined the The Athletic in 2023, leaving ESPN after over eight years.
McCoy played 12 seasons in the NFL. He spent six with the Philadelphia Eagles, four seasons with the Buffalo Bills, one with the Kansas City Chiefs, and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The 37-year-old won a Super Bowl with the Chiefs in 2019 and the Buccaneers in 2020. In 170 games, McCoy ran for 11,102 yards with 73 touchdowns, while catching 518 passes for 3,898 yards and 16 touchdowns.
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