The other times VAR has made its mark on high-profile games
England’s Nations League semi-final with Holland saw the video assistant referee take a high-profile role.
Jesse Lingard thought he had won it for England late on but, after the celebrations had died down, he saw his ‘goal’ chalked off due to offside and England went on to lose 3-1.
Here, Press Association Sport looks at other high-profile VAR decisions.
🤔pic.twitter.com/xjHNZqxmGR— England (@England) June 6, 2019
Manchester City v Tottenham, 2019
One of THE most remarkable phases of play the Champions League has seen…— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 17, 2019
Perhaps VAR’s most dramatic intervention led to Tottenham dumping Manchester City out of this season’s Champions League at the quarter-final stage.
Spurs went through on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate draw, but that did not tell half of the story. Fernando Llorente’s goal, which proved to be the ‘winner’, had to be checked, making sure the Spaniard had not handled. Then, when City thought they had won it in stoppage time through Raheem Sterling, VAR adjudged team-mate Sergio Aguero to be offside.
France v Australia, 2018
France benefited from a controversial first use of VAR technology at a World Cup as they laboured to a 2-1 win over Australia. Antoine Griezmann put Les Bleus ahead with a contentious second-half penalty in Kazan after referee Andres Cunha adjudged the forward had been fouled by Joshua Risdon having watched a replay of the incident at the side of the pitch.
Uruguayan official Cunha initially played on following Risdon’s challenge on Griezmann before pointing to the penalty spot after consulting VAR and viewing a screen next to the dugouts.
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Portugal v Iran, 2018
Portugal’s World Cup clash with Iran was rife with reviews. Portugal were awarded a penalty after referee Enrique Caceres double-checked Cristiano Ronaldo had been fouled by Morteza Pouraliganji. Ronaldo, who missed the penalty, was later the subject of a red card review after swinging an arm at Pouraliganji off the ball, but was only shown yellow.
In stoppage time VAR awarded Iran a controversial penalty after Cedric Soares was harshly adjudged to have handled, securing a dramatic 1-1 draw for the minnows.
England v Italy, 2018
England had the the frustration of a video assistant referee allowing Italy to snatch a 1-1 draw at Wembley.
Lorenzo Insigne grabbed an 88th-minute penalty leveller after a VAR intervention. Referee Deniz Aytekin pointed to the spot after looking at footage of debutant James Tarkowski making contact with Italy substitute Federico Chiesa, with boss Gareth Southgate saying the decision was not “clear and obvious”.
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