West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui fumes at Liverpool goal decision amid VAR confusion

West Ham United manager Julen Lopetegui believes Diogo Jota's first-half equaliser during Wednesday night's 5-1 Carabao Cup win for Liverpool should not have stood. The under-pressure Hammers manager reckons Cody Gakpo was offside in the build-up to Jota's headed goal on 24 minutes.

VAR is not in use during the earlier rounds of the EFL competition, with technology only guaranteed for the final. After Jota had found the net, Lopetegui instinctively gestured for VAR to the fourth official before realising it was not in operation and that drew the Spaniard to speak up post-match.

Speaking to Sky Sports after full-time, he claimed of Liverpool's leveller: "They scored an offside goal. We suffered the first goal."

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Gakpo was adjudged to have legally broken their defensive line in the build-up to the goal amid a close call that would have certainly been checked by VAR had it been in operation. VAR is only typically used in the League Cup prior to the final when all remaining clubs have the ability to host the system.

Jota's first of two goals on the evening cancelled out an unfortunate own goal from Jarell Quansah three minutes earlier. Jota put the hosts ahead four minutes after half-time before, substitute Mohamed Salah grabbed his fourth goal of the season on 74 minutes.

A second yellow card and subsequent dismissal for Edson Alvarez two minutes later released the pressure West Ham were building following a flurry of substitutions. Gakpo became the beneficiary of the switch of momentum, grabbing two late goals to create a comprehensive margin of victory.

Liverpool will now travel to Brighton in the fourth round, playing the Seagulls in the competition for the first time since 2011. Speaking after full-time, Arne Slot summarised: "I do feel like, in most parts of the game, we had control. We had a large part of possession, particularly in the first half."