VAR spoils Manchester City’s Etihad party yet again
Manchester City had a late winning goal ruled out by VAR, as they dropped 2 points against Spurs despite being by far the better side.
We’re not even 2 weeks into the new Premier League season, and the introduction of VAR, video assisted review, is already starting to cause controversy and impact results. As fans, coaches, players, and even officials get used to the process, there are of course going to be growing pains, but that won’t stop the topic from hitting the headlines.
On Saturday, Manchester City took on Spurs at the Etihad in a highly-anticipated match, and while the home side was completely dominant throughout, mustering up 10 times as many shots as Spurs, the score was level 2-2 heading toward full-time.
Wow wow wow.... people keep telling me VAR takes the natural emotion out of the game... I just went from punching a hole in the sofa to a full knee slide in the hallway😆🙈 #MCITOT #VAR
— Jermaine Jenas (@jjenas8) August 17, 2019
That was until Gabriel Jesus found the back of the net in the dying moments to seal victory for his side – or so he thought. While the Etihad was sobering up from an intoxicating, deafening cheer that surely rattled their bones, VAR was in the process of ruling out the goal.
Why? Because Aymeric Laporte unintentionally had the ball deflect ever so slightly off his arm.
According to the new law, any goal that had a handball occur, whether it be intentional or not, in the immediate lead-up will be called off by VAR. While it’s understandable to an extent, it’s difficult to understand the lack of parity between offensive handballs and defensive ones. If the ball strikes a defenders arm unintentionally, then it’s likely that it will not be called for a penalty.
So for defenders, not every handball results in a penalty. However, for attackers, every handball that leads to a goal, whether intentional or not, is completely illegal. Surely if unintentional handballs are allowed to an extent on the defensive side of the ball, then it should be the same for the offensive side, right?
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Either way, the Premier League is already filled with so much drama, and the introduction of VAR increases this tenfold. But while there will be mistakes with the system, its intentions are correct, and it is something we should be supporting and helping to develop over the long-term. Manchester City and Spurs ended up sharing the points, as they will surely be having déjà vu of last seasons Champions League quarter-finals, where Manchester City had a late goal disallowed by VAR, to deny them victory.