Darren England says recovering from the VAR error that wrongly ruled out Luis Díaz’s goal for Liverpool against Tottenham was one of the hardest periods of his career. Three years on, the official has returned to major matches and is preparing for his first Champions League appointment as a Video Assistant Referee.

England was the VAR when Díaz scored, but the goal was disallowed for offside. Although the video showed the Liverpool forward was onside, England mistakenly said “check complete”, and the decision stood. He describes the incident as the lowest point of his refereeing career.

The mistake brought intense media attention, which England says also affected his family. Journalists gathered outside his daughters’ school, and personal details about his home and family were reported. “That then affects you not as a referee, but as a human being,” he told BBC Sport.

England was taken out of Premier League selection after the incident. He returned to top-flight refereeing almost three months later and resumed regular appointments in February; it took six and a half months for him to return to the Premier League VAR room. He said support from family, friends and a sports psychologist helped him through the period.

Since then, England has been entrusted with prominent assignments. He was VAR for a late West Ham equaliser against Arsenal that was overturned in May, then refereed Manchester City’s 1-0 win over Chelsea in the FA Cup final. He called taking charge at Wembley “a real honour” and described it as the pinnacle of his career as a referee.

England is also due to work as a VAR in the Champions League for the first time, for Galatasaray’s match against Stuttgart. His European appointments have included 10 Conference League games and six in the Europa League.

At a referees’ training camp, Professional Referee Group director Hugh Dallas described England as a “role model”. England had recently reached 100 top-flight matches. He began refereeing at 15, worked his way into the Premier League as an assistant, then chose in 2015 to restart as a referee in the National League and progress from there.

England says he still has ambitions, including the Carabao Cup and Championship play-off finals. He says referees must continue improving as players do, and that having no targets would be a sign it was time to leave the field.

Sources: BBC Sport.