CITY SPECIAL Sane was robbed! VAR would have given a goal
LEROY Sane silenced the critics just two minutes into his first league start of the season on Saturday, tapping in Fernandinho’s low cross.
Sane had only played 30 minutes of Premier League action before City welcomed Fulham to the Etihad, and had been left out of the matchday squad altogether in the previous home game against Newcastle.
Since then, he withdrew from international duty with Germany for the birth of his daughter and was handed a spot in the starting XI on Saturday.
It was a perfect message to send to the doubters, after questions had been raised about Sane’s attitude following his omission from the German World Cup squad.
However, Sane’s comeback could have been even sweeter – if his disallowed goal in the first half had been allowed to stand.
The 22-year-old reacted to a flick-on from a corner, but the linesman mistook him for Nicolas Otamendi standing in an offside position and raised his flag.
And a VAR trial conducted by the Premier League on Saturday confirmed that the decision to rule the goal out would have been overturned.
Saturday’s tests were carried out to test the feasibility of the VAR system with multiple games in play at the same time. The trial was independent of any fixtures being played, and referees had no contact with the video referees on the day.
It is thought the Premier League was pleased with the results of the trial – but Sane and City have a right to be annoyed that their 3-0 win was not even more emphatic. ONE of the toughest aspects for City on their way to winning the Premier League title last season was the weight of expectation.
Pep Guardiola’s side racked up a relentless 18 straight wins but the utterly one-sided nature of what is sold as the most competitive league in the world made it hard for the Blues to keep their motivation.
Especially after outclassing United at Old Trafford in December, the title race was classified alongside the dodos and every City match regarded as an outer-league experience.
If winning the league looked easy, four months of games being treated like they had already clinched the title when it was mathematically impossible did create a difficult atmosphere for the players.
That is exactly what the Blues will have to deal with in Europe from now on though, only they don’t have the credits in the bank.
The bookies have made City clear favourites ahead of the start of the competition this week, and most pundits are tipping them to be lifting the trophy in Madrid next June. The domestic heights scaled by the team last year make that understandable, but there is also a sense that they should do well precisely because they have underachieved to date. Surely their time has to come at some point, or so goes the thinking.
But the hurdles that will be needed to clear for those predictions to come true still look daunting.
UEFA’s treatment of the club has left many supporters completely turned off by the Champions League, with Guardiola unable to put an end to the now-traditional booing of anthem before every game.
Even if the owners ensure European competition is treated as a priority, many fans would rather efforts were concentrated on becoming the first team in 10 years to win back-to-back titles.
A contingent that only dared to sing about winning the league last season as David Silva put them 16 points clear with eight games to go are unlikely to suddenly get giddy Pep Guardiola the about a competition they have never gone further than the semi-finals in. Looking through the squad, Claudio Bravo may have a winners’ medal but Ilkay Gundogan is the only one who knows what it is like to play in a final, and it was his introduction at Anfield back in April that appeared to start the team off on the wrong foot – going all the way will be a leap into the unknown for virtually everyone and this team has had two disappointing exits under Guardiola. “The expectations don’t matter, you have to win it on the pitch. “I am not concerned for one second [with the idea that] we deserve more credit for the Champions League,” said the manager at the weekend. “We analysed it many times and I can tell you from history we don’t deserve it because still we didn’t make an exceptional year in the Champions League. We did it in the group stage but that is not the issue,