CITY ARE BEST BY VAR

But video ref’s a passion killer for boss Guardiola

PEP GUARDIOLA warned that VAR risked taking the passion out of football after his Manchester City crushed West Ham.

Raheem Sterling scored a hat-trick, but delays for video technology referrals overshadowed the London Stadium encounter.

Gabriel Jesus had a goal ruled out when Sterling’s shoulder was marginally judged offside.

And Sergio Aguero re-took, and scored, a penalty after Lukasz Fabianski’s save when the VAR official ruled Declan Rice had encroached.

“We lost a little bit, the instant?” said

Guardiola. “You have to celebrate it when it’s clear, when there’s doubts.

“But you must always be focused because maybe it’s not regular, and you must keep your concentration to not lose momentum.

“After what happened against Tottenham in the quarter-finals [of the Champions League], where we scored in the 95th minute and we were there. All the 60,000 in joy, dancing, jumping – one second later, we lost because it was offside. Now I’m used to these situations.

“The passion, now we can control that emotion. You must be mentally strong when VAR is not on our side. It’ll be a good lesson for our future.

“The only thing I wish is that VAR doesn’t make mistakes. My concern is that when VAR makes a mistake and, it happens often, it’s better that referees make the decisions. We can always live with that.”

West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini said: “It is not easy to get used to it, but the result will be fairer if we use VAR in the right moments. Football is so fast today, it is impossible for referees to see it all. If you are going to use it for every corner, you will find four penalties.”