Dermot Gallagher has put forward a strong defence of VAR after the two controversial incidents in the Champions League quarter-final at the Etihad.
Tottenham had their decisive goal ruled on by VAR but the referee decided it should stand.
Then, in the final minutes of injury time, Raheem Sterling’s winner for Man City was taken to VAR and it was ruled out because of offside.
It was harsh on City, who had arguably been the best team on the night, but former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher said the referee got both decisions right.
Talking on Sky Sports (Thursday, 3pm), Gallagher said that the Fernando Llorente handball was “a much more difficult decision and what I would say is it’s not conclusive.
“And, for a referee to disallow a goal for handball, he has to be convinced it was handball and that it did strike his arm. When you look at it over and over again, it looks as through it hits his hip and he cannot be sure it’s hit his arm because of where it is. He’s duty-bound to let the goal stand.”
As for the Sterling injury-time goal, Gallagher said, “I think it was the right decision.
“When you look at it, the ball’s played back by Eriksen which would have played him onside. Silva goes for the ball quite clearly and touches it and it goes to Aguero and then the referee has no choice but to disallow the goal. What’s interesting is that it only got picked up by VAR and it proves that it worked on this occasion as it led to the right decision.”
OPINION
It might have been the right decision but that won’t soften the blow for Man City fans who will be having VAR nightmares for weeks to come. Games like last night’s are why we love football so much though and it shows that you can work hard all season just to get unlucky at the last minute of a game. We’re all in favour of VAR, too. We want the correct decisions to be made and that was the case last night. Llorente’s handball wasn’t conclusive – you can debate it, but it was never clear enough for the goal to be ruled out. Aguero was offside for the City goal, a fact that even Pep Guardiola sportingly acknowledged after the game. If Tottenham go on to win the Champions League – and they’ve got a very tough but winnable two-leg semi against Ajax now – this game and those decisions will go down in Tottenham folklore.