IT WAS said that the debate over the authenticity of Liverpool’s historic goal against Chelsea at Anfield on Tuesday would rage for years. In fact, it lasted less than 24 hours.

Computer pictures prove that Luis García’s shot, which will be worth around £28 million to the club if they win the European Cup on May 25, was nowhere near to crossing the goalline when William Gallas, the Chelsea defender, hooked the ball away.

Using the Virtual Replay system, which was developed from Israeli missile technology, BSkyB showed that, far from the whole of the ball having crossed the whole of the line, as is required, it was not even close to reaching the centre of the line at the moment when it connected with Gallas’s right boot. All the camera angles produced during ITV’s live coverage of the match were inconclusive, even if most suggested that the official had probably made a mistake in awarding the goal.

Virtual Replay has been used in the past to settle arguments where “goals” were incorrectly disallowed. Given that Chelsea’s place in the European Cup final was at stake, Roman Slysko, the assistant referee who allowed García’s goal, appears to have made a serious mistake.

Not that the Slovakian is prepared to admit as much. “I believe that my decision was correct,” he said. “My first feeling — and which I remain convinced of — was that it was a goal. I am 100 per cent convinced. It was a very hard situation in which a person has only a few hundredths of a second to react. But I saw it clearly and, in my view, I was adequately positioned. ”

All of which only makes the situation more galling for Chelsea and brings a bigger smile to the faces of those at Liverpool as they contemplate a prize fund for winning of almost £30 million.

The money allocated to European Cup winners is worked out using a complex formula that involves taking into account the finishing place in the domestic league of the winning team and the size of the television market in the club’s country of origin.