PGMOL have now issued an apology to Fulham acknowledging that Salisbury’s decision in disallowing Fulham’s opener against Chelsea on Saturday went against the ‘referee’s call’ principle, which holds that VAR can only intervene after a clear and obvious error.
Howard Webb, PGMOL’s Chief Refereeing Officer, contacted the club personally.
Josh King thought he had opened the scoring at Stamford Bridge with a well-taken breakaway goal, but play was pulled back as Rodrigo Muniz was deemed to have fouled Trevoh Chalobah in the buildup.
It proved a pivotal moment in the match, which Chelsea went on to win 2-0 despite being outplayed for long stretches.
It was not the only contentious VAR decision in the match, either, as Chelsea were later awarded a penalty as Ryan Sessegnon was convicted of handling the ball after Joao Pedro got away with a similar offence.
Fulham boss Marco Silva was left incensed by the decisions, saying at full-time: “The second decision was completely unbelievable, for that penalty, and it was an unbelievable decision [for the first].
“You have many decisions to talk about. I have spoken about referees so many times. I am not in the best mood to do it.”