Wolves defender Toti Gomes has claimed he still doesn’t understand why his side’s winning ‘goal’ at Anfield was ruled out last night and revealed he spoke to officials who claimed the goal was ‘offside by a little bit’.
The Portugal U20 international thought he had sent Julien Lopetegui’s side through to the fourth round of the FA Cup with a clever flicked finish, only for an offside to be given against Matheus Nunes in the build-up.
The defender believes officials ‘should have done better’ and suggested that they ‘help the big teams’ but was ‘proud’ of how the Molineux outfit performed against the current holders of the trophy.
“At the end I tried to speak with them and they said it was offside by a little bit, but I don’t understand how,” a bemused Toti admitted (as quoted by Birmingham Mail). “At the end I saw the replay and still don’t understand how it wasn’t a goal.
“They should have done better. In this type of moment, they help the big teams a little bit and for us that’s not good. Sometimes these mistakes help the big teams. It’s frustrating because we fight for a good result and these small things make a difference in the end.
“I’m still proud of the team because we gave everything until the end, it was a good game.”
Even though the decisions went in our favour yesterday, the performance of the officials should certainly be questioned.
Video Assistant Referee Mike Dean reportedly didn’t have access to the relevant footage that would’ve seen Wolves’ goal stand and the officials had no choice other than to stick with the on-field decision.
Mo Salah’s strike early in the first half was also a rather questionable one after he received the ball from Cody Gakpo despite being in an offside position, only for a bizarre rule that meant a touch from a Wolves defender then made the Egyptian King onside.
We understand Toti’s frustration and Lopetegui’s side will be eager to inflict defeat on us when we face them in the replay later this month – we need to be right up for it.