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Arsenal's Marc Overmars and Nwankwo Kanu confront the Sheffield United defence after his controversial goal in their FA 5th round FA Cup match at Highbury.

Liverpool v Tottenham next? Eight football games that have been replayed ft. Arsenal, Besiktas…

Planet Football •

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp wants the Premier League game against Tottenham to be replayed – but has this ever happened before?

Klopp was left incensed after Luis Diaz’s goal in their 2-1 defeat against Tottenham was wrongly disallowed by the video assistant referee. 

“Something like this never happened, so that is why I think a replay is the right thing to do,” the German told reporters.

While the Premier League aren’t considering a replay at this stage, we’ve taken a look at eight occasions where it did happen in other competitions.

Arsenal vs Sheffield United

In February 1999, Arsenal were drawn at home against Sheffield United in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup as they looked to retain the trophy.

Patrick Vieira scored the opener at Highbury and the visitors equalised through Marcelo’s header before the game descended into chaos in the 76th minute.

After Sheffield United’s Lee Morris picked up an injury, goalkeeper Alan Kelly kicked the ball out of play so his team-mate could receive treatment.

At the resulting throw-in, Ray Parlour followed the unwritten rule in football and attempted to give the ball back to Kelly to restart the game.

But Nwankwo Kanu – who was making his Arsenal debut – misunderstood the situation and collected the ball before squaring it for Marc Overmars to score.

The Blades were outraged and most of their players surrounded referee Peter Jones, but the goal was allowed to stand following an eight-minute delay.

“I just remember seeing the throw going down the line and then suddenly Kanu was latching onto it and rolling it across for Marc,” Nigel Winterburn told Goal.

“It was just a complete misunderstanding of the etiquette and what usually happened in the English game because it was clear what Ray was trying to do.

“There was a lot of confusion and angry players around. Sheffield United were furious and that was understandable because everyone knew an injustice had taken place.

“I spoke to a couple of their players and could only apologise. I mean, what can you do after a moment like that? It was pandemonium, I don’t think any of us really knew what to do.”

While the game finished 2-1, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger offered to replay the game at Highbury and Steve Bruce’s side accepted.

Overmars scored a perfectly legitimate goal in the replay and Dennis Bergkamp doubled Arsenal’s lead before the Blades grabbed a late consolation in a 2-1 defeat.

Besiktas vs Genclerbirligi

During Besiktas’ home game against Genclerbirligi in February 2005, the visitors scored a controversial equaliser in the 58th minute after winning a free-kick.

Referee Kuddusi Muftuoglu signalled for the set piece to be taken and then blew his whistle a second time after spotting an infringement in the wall.

The free-kick should have been retaken but Ali Tandogan’s strike hit the back of the net and Muftuoglu allowed the goal to stand.

After Muftuoglu admitted his mistake in the official match report, the Turkish FA ordered the game to be replayed but the replay was a very uneventful affair and it ended in a 0-0 draw.

South Africa vs Senegal

A 2018 World Cup qualifier between South Africa and Senegal was shrouded in controversy due to referee Joseph Lamptey.

South Africa were awarded a penalty when Lamptey penalised Senegal’s Kalidou Koulibaly for handball, but replays showed the ball clearly struck the defender’s knee.

Thulani Hlatshwayo converted the penalty in the 42nd minute and South Africa went on to win the game 2-1.

But Lamptey was later banned for life after FIFA found him guilty of match manipulation and that decision was upheld by the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Despite confirming that neither team had any knowledge of the fixing, FIFA still annulled the initial result.

The replay took place in November 2017 and Senegal won 2-0, securing their place at the 2018 World Cup.

Uzbekistan vs Bahrain

Ahead of the 2006 World Cup, Uzbekistan faced Bahrain in a two-legged play-off as both sides looked to play in the tournament for the first time.

Uzbekistan took an early lead in the first leg and were then awarded a penalty in the 39th minute.

Referee Toshimitsu Yoshida disallowed Server Djeparov’s goal due to encroachment in the area by a team-mate – but crucially did not allow them to retake the penalty and awarded a free-kick to Bahrain.

The hosts still won 1-0 but FIFA voided the result due to the refereeing blunder.

While Uzbekistan wanted the match to be recorded as an automatic 3–0 victory, FIFA declined their request and ordered for the full game to be replayed.

“Obviously it is not fair for us to replay the whole game after winning 1-0 and then being robbed of a successful penalty,” an Uzbekistan spokesman said.

The replay in Uzbekistan ended in a 1-1 draw and the second leg finished 0-0 so Bahrain won on away goals.

But they didn’t reach the 2006 World Cup as they lost to Trinidad and Tobago in the next round.

Edgware Town vs Harefield United

Toshimitsu Yoshida isn’t the only referee to make that mistake as Mark Tweed made a similar mishap during a non-league game between Edgware Town and Harefield United in September 2006.

Harefield were leading 1-0 when they conceded a second-half penalty, which Edgware scored. But the referee disallowed the goal for encroachment and mistakenly awarded an indirect free-kick to Harefield.

Edgware went on to lose the match 1-0 but made a successful appeal to the Spartan South Midlands League for a replay

The FA also took disciplinary action against Tweed, who was handed a 14-day suspension for “not upholding the laws of the game.”

Miami FC vs Pittsburgh Riverhounds

While Howard Webb is currently the chief refereeing officer of the Premier League, he used to work with the Professional Referee Organisation (PRO) in the United States.

During his time in America, there was a controversial USL Championship match between Miami FC and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

Miami’s Devon Williams passed the ball to a teammate from a free-kick, whose backpass then went past goalkeeper Connor Sparrow and into the net for an own goal.

According to the rules, a ball that goes into the net directly from a free kick results in a corner kick for the opposing team so the goal was disallowed.

But since Miami’s free-kick had been put in play first, it should have remained an own goal.

“[The referees] said it was the first pass, but it wasn’t, clearly,” Pittsburgh coach Bob Lilley said. “We’ve seen it, [Miami coach] Paul Dalglish has seen it, and even he said it was a goal. It was a perfectly good goal.”

The match ended in a goalless draw but the PRO determined that an officiating error and a misapplication of the FIFA Laws of the Game had occurred.

It was later replayed from the 67th minute with Pittsburgh holding a 1-0 lead and that’s how the game finished.

Scunthorpe vs Buxton

In September 2023, Scunthorpe United looked set to suffer their first defeat of the season as they trailed 2-1 against Buxton in the National League North.

However, despite being the hottest day of the year in the UK, there was a torrential downpour as the game entered its closing stages.

The referee took the players off the pitch in injury time and the match was abandoned after the pitch was deemed unplayable.

The National League then confirmed that the game would be replayed from the start rather than resuming in added time.

“We expected a better outcome, we hoped common sense would hopefully prevail but it hasn’t,” Buxton manager Craig Elliott told BBC Radio Derby. “I’m really disappointed for the players and the fans who paid their hard earned money to support us and for it not to be a result.

“Scunthorpe have got their own agenda, they’re heavy favourites to go and win the league this year. I think they’ll be relieved and really happy with the outcome.

“From our point of view we feel we’ve been hard done by, on social media the reaction to it is there’s a lot of people thinking it’s the wrong decision as well.

“What needs to happen is the rules have to change. It can’t happen like that in the future, it doesn’t seem fair at all. All in all it’s been a really disappointing outcome, one I didn’t expect to happen.”

But Buxton still ended up with all three points as they won 3-0 in the replay.

Exwick Villa vs Bow AAC

Exwick Villa and Bow AAC were drawn to face each other in a Devon Senior Cup third-round clash in November 2019.

The two sides were locked at 0-0 after 90 minutes before Bow scored twice in extra time to seemingly win the tie 2-0 and progress to the next round.

But the match officials had forgotten about a rule change that came into force in the summer of 2019 so the match should have gone straight to penalties.

“What a shambles,” Bow manager Doug Coles said after the FA decided to replay the game. “We won the game fair and square so I don’t see why we should have to replay it.”

Despite the fact that the replay was held at Bow AAC’s ground, Exwick Villa won 4-3 in a seven-goal thriller.

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