Anfield was supposed to be a place of noise, passion and victory, but on this unforgettable Saturday afternoon it turned into a stadium filled with anger, confusion and shock. The Liverpool fans walked into the ground full of confidence, full of belief, and full of expectation because they wanted a win, and they believed that Nottingham Forest was the perfect opponent to get that win. But football is not mathematics, football is not predict and answer, football is drama, football is pain, football is joy, and sometimes football is heartbreak. And on this day at Anfield, heartbreak entered the stadium wearing green.
Everything looked normal from the first minute. Liverpool started with fast passing, constant pressure, and pure confidence like a team that wanted to send a message to the whole Premier League. The home fans were singing loudly, the banners were waving, and even the players were smiling. But nobody inside Anfield knew that this match was about to become a worldwide story, the kind of story that leaves fans shouting in living rooms, arguing in pubs, and fighting on social media because of VAR decisions that will not be forgotten anytime soon.
The drama started with a corner. Liverpool cleared the ball halfway, then failed to push out properly, and suddenly the ball dropped to Murillo. He looked up once and hit the ball low and hard, straight into the bottom corner. A rocket. A dream shot. But nobody celebrated at first. The ball went in, yet silence filled Anfield because every Liverpool player immediately turned to the referee. Alisson raised his hand. Van Dijk shouted. Andrew Robertson screamed. They were pointing at Dan Ndoye, who was standing in an offside position directly in front of Alisson when the ball came through. To the players and to everyone in the stadium, Ndoye was blocking Alisson’s view. To the whole world watching, it was interference. Every Liverpool fan inside the ground believed the goal must be ruled out
But that is where the chaos started.
The referee touched his ear. VAR was checking. The stadium turned into a waiting room. Everyone stood still. The Liverpool players surrounded the referee, begging, asking, complaining, trying to make the decision go their way. The Nottingham Forest players stood quietly, praying that the goal would count. The coaches on both touchlines watched closely. The fans in the stadium were holding their breath. And then the message came from the VAR room. The referee turned. The players waited. The announcer confirmed.
The ball hit the net again without moving. The real explosion was not Murillo’s shot, it was the referee’s decision. The Nottingham Forest players celebrated while the Liverpool players were furious. The whole stadium turned into a volcano of noise. Fans were booing, screaming, and waving their hands. They could not believe it. They were saying, “How? What did we just see?” Alisson kept shouting because he believed his vision was blocked. Van Dijk was angry and frustrated. Some Liverpool supporters were shaking their heads because they remembered something painful from earlier this month. Against Manchester City, Van Dijk scored a goal that was ruled out because Robertson interfered with the goalkeeper. Robertson ducked, Donnarumma could not see properly, and the goal was cancelled. So the question in the minds of every Liverpool fan was very simple: why was this one allowed?
