Dominik Szoboszlai and Erling Haaland incident explained as referee backs call to rule out Spurs goal for push on Gabriel

Referee Craig Pawson initially awarded Rayan Cherki's late goal for Manchester City against Liverpool because he "didn't see" Erling Haaland's foul on Dominik Szoboszlai.

Cherki's long-range effort into an unguarded net, with Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson caught upfield, appeared to have sealed a dramatic 3-1 win for Man City in stoppage time, but it was ruled out following a VAR check.

Szoboszlai initially fouled Haaland but the referee played advantage as the pair raced to reach the loose ball before the striker then fouled the Liverpool midfielder as it rolled into the goal.

Pawson awarded the goal on field, but VAR John Brooks spotted Haaland's foul and recommended that it should be ruled out with Szoboszlai then sent off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity and the match restarted with a Man City free kick.

When explaining the decision to Pawson, VAR said: "There's a clear foul here on Erling Haaland, which means he cannot get to the ball, ok?"

Pawson replied: "Yeah, that's the pull back. That's the one I played advantage on, yeah."

VAR then said: "But then we cannot play advantage and ignore this because there is a clear holding offence on the defender (Szoboszlai), there."

"Ah, I didn't see that," said Pawson before he went on to rule the goal out and send Szoboszlai off.