Nottingham Forest had the better chances in the fifth-round tie but failed to beat the in-form Andre Onana. The Midlands outfit will now be left frustrated after feeling that Casemiro’s goal should have been chalked off, which would have sent the game into extra-time and a potential penalty shootout.
Gibbs-White pointed out that there were similarities between the goal and the one Virgil van Dijk had disallowed in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final. The former England U21 international took screenshots of both incidents and posted them alongside each other on Instagram.
In the Carabao Cup final, Van Dijk had his strike from a similar set-piece scenario chalked off before he scored the winning goal against the Blues in extra-time. Wataru Endo had been in an offside position when he blocked Levi Colwill from getting back to mark Van Dijk.
Morgan Gibbs White showed Casemiro's goal and Virgil van Dijk's ruled-out header were similar (Image: Morgan Gibbs-White / Instagram)
It was deemed that Endo had made a “deliberate play” while in an offside position and the goal was therefore ruled out. Liverpool had a similar situation two years prior when Joel Matip had a header disallowed in the 2022 Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea.
Gibbs-White felt there were clear similarities between Van Dijk’s disallowed goal and Casemiro’s header against Forest. United defender Raphael Varane appeared to be in an offside position when he blocked Forest defender Felipe from running into the same area of the box from which Casemiro scored.
Varane’s block was even less subtle than Endo’s had been three days earlier. He seemed to shove Felipe to the floor, preventing the Brazilian from stopping his countryman from scoring the winning goal.
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Forest will likely be unhappy with the decision. The Premier League club last week appointed former top-flight referee Mark Clattenburg as a referee advisor, hoping to improve communication with the PGMOL.
Clattenburg was sat alongside PGMOL chief Howard Webb at the City Ground and might have tried to get answers from his former colleague. Gibbs-White posted the images alongside each other but did not comment further.
Manager Nuno Espirito Santo said afterwards: "[Disappointing] for all of us, for our fans, for us as a team. We played good. We had good situations and we're disappointed to lose at the end. Not too many differences. Both teams had chances, both teams were organised. It was a good game.”