Gary Neville slammed by comedian Omid Djalili with Man Utd hero accused of 'sprouting corporate nonsense'

Omid Djalili

Comedian Omid Djalili has torn into Gary Neville on social media

PA
Jack Otway

By Jack Otway


Published: 02/10/2023

- 14:46

The Red Devils legend has been vocal about Liverpool and VAR in the wake of the club's controversial defeat to Tottenham on Saturday night

Comedian Omid Djalili has taken aim at Gary Neville on social media after the Manchester United icon criticised Liverpool's response to VAR errors on Saturday night.

Jurgen Klopp's side lost 2-1 to Tottenham after a late own goal from Joel Matip.


Yet Liverpool were wronged when a goal from Luis Diaz was wrongly chalked off for offside.

To make matters worse both Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota were dismissed, with Liverpool ending the game with nine men.

Gary Neville

Man Utd icon Gary Neville has riled Liverpool by criticising their response to VAR error

PA

Neville feels the Reds were unlucky but, writing on X, insisting their statement in response was far too strong.

"Jurgen Klopp handled the situation well last night after the game," said the former Manchester United star.

"Most football fans will have had empathy with what happened and recognised it was wrong!

"However Liverpool's statement tonight is a mistake!

"Talk of exploring all options ( what does that mean!!! ) and sporting integrity are dangerous phrases along with being vague and aggressive.

"Sorry we f@@@@d up was enough!! I said this last night. Sorry should be respected and not undervalued.

"This is a snap reaction that can always be wrong but I feel strongly about it."

However, Djalili has now torn into Neville and accused the 48-year-old of 'sprouting corporate nonsense'.

"Gary’s hands are tied so he’s spouting corporate nonsense here and minimising a major incident," he said.

"I was at #CFCWHU [Chelsea vs West Ham] Sept last year what would have been a good last min West Ham equaliser was chalked off for a supposed foul by Jarrod Bowen on CFC keeper Mendy in the build up.

"The decision was scandalous and the referee’s body PGMOL have since apologised for the decision.

"But judging a foul is NOT as clear cut as judging offside.

"This is the first time a goal has been wrongly chalked off on an offside decision.

"Football fans have reacted because you’re either offside or you’re not. As lovers of the game, we have every right to know exactly what went wrong.

"That it doesn’t happen again is also how the game evolves."

Djalili continued: "As an extreme example, if airlines said after every air crash 'it’s a f@@k up! we’ve all done it' there would be no airline industry.

The first phase of an investigation (yes the analogy fits as chalking off a good goal for offside is metaphorically a ‘crash’) is to obtain the data relevant to the mistake.

"For planes, it’s the black box flight recorder.

"For Premier league football it’s the conversation between VAR & the referee.

"This needs to be released into the public domain. The fact that they haven’t means something very wrong has taken place.

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Luis Diaz

Luis Diaz had a goal chalked off by VAR as Tottenham beat Liverpool on Saturday night

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"@LFC had a good goal wrongly chalked off against a close rival when down to 10 men which could have a massive impact on the season.

"As a club they have every right to ask for transparency - as in find out exactly what went wrong - and take it from there.

"In a post-VAR world we are in uncharted territory.

"Any outcome after such a mistake is on the table, even replaying the game, who knows?

"But an apology for 'human error' - which is precisely why VAR was introduced to guard against - now being used to draw a line under the incident? Not a chance in hell."

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