VAR GETS BOTH BIG CALLS SPOT ON
THE officials were right to disallow Raheem Sterling’s stoppagetime goal for Manchester City — and this was a great night for VAR. Replays clearly showed that Sergio Aguero was offside when the ball deflected off team-mate Bernardo Silva and into the striker’s path. The assistant referee was right in keeping his flag down and waiting for the review, as he may have thought Spurs midfielder Christian Eriksen played the ball straight to Aguero. However, it clearly touches Silva on the way. Some may argue that the touch was not deliberate, but that does not matter. As long as it’s a City player with the last touch then Aguero is offside. Earlier, the use of VAR in checking and then allowing Fernando Llorente’s goal was a fantastic example of the system at its best — and the right decision was made. For such a critical moment in a highprofile match it is important that the referee gets a second chance to look at the incident after City claimed the Spurs striker had scored with his arm. If the ball had gone in off his arm or hand then it would have been disallowed, even if the contact was not deliberate. However, the slowmotion replay clearly showed that the ball went in via Llorente’s upper thigh. There was a suggestion that Llorente’s skin rippled and perhaps the ball did brush his arm — but that contact would have been so slight and the goal is scored with the thigh, not the arm. We sometimes criticise VAR for its use of slow-motion replays in handball situations, but here it was imperative in reaching the right decision.