Questions arise on why VAR didn’t check Halaand’s goal against Spurs
May 15, 2024
VAR. All eyes were on Manchester City’s Premier League clash with Tottenham on Tuesday night, especially those associated with Arsenal.
The Gunners relied on their north London rivals to give them a huge title boost ahead of the final day of the season. Victory for Ange Postecoglou’s side would have put the destiny of the title race in Arsenal’s hands.
Prior to the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, theories emerged that the Spurs fanbase wanted their team to lose to stop their rivals from becoming champions of England.
The contest started as a tight affair with Phil Foden coming close twice for City. However, after Son Heung-min missed a big chance in the second-half, Erling Haaland scored the decisive goal.
Once again, the striker was there when things needed to be done for Pep Guardiola’s team to move up over Arsenal in the Premier League standings.
But a lot of keen-eyed fans appeared to believe that Kevin De Bruyne was not onside during the build-up prior to him squareing the ball to Haaland inside the box.
The on-field linesman judged the judgment to be obvious, thus VAR did not examine for offside after Haaland opened the scoring. Although Foden’s pass through the lines to De Bruyne appeared extremely tight, the perfect choice was chosen.
VAR was then used moments later when Cristian Romero collided with goalkeeper Ederson at the back post. The Spurs defender had every right to attempt to get the ball but accidently knocked the Brazilian in the face.
It was deemed a fair challenge and Romero was booked by referee Chris Kavanagh. The goalkeeper was replaced, though, moments later despite continuing for a short while.