Antoine Semenyo was left bemused by a VAR intervention that ruled out his second goal in Manchester City’s Carabao Cup semi-final clash against Newcastle United.
Semenyo had previously put the visitors 1-0 up at St. James’ Park before beating his marker from a corner and directing an effort at goal off his knee in the 63rd minute.
Goalkeeper Nick Pope jumped in the opposite direction with defender Malick Thiaw and striker Erling Haaland blocking his route to the ball despite being only a yard of so from Semenyo’s strike.
Referee Chris Kavanagh was told to pause the game as VAR reviewed the goal and a delay of over four minutes followed as the video officials zoomed in on Erling Haaland’s right boot.
Superimposed lines were added on top of the replay which showed Haaland was a toe further forward than Thiaw who he was grappling with just in front of the goalline.
The VAR’s decision was to call Kavanagh over to the pitchside monitor to view the incident and make a decision on the ‘speculative offside’.
It was decided that Haaland was impacting Thiaw’s ability to play the ball from an offside position and thus Manchester City’s second goal was ruled out.
Kavanagh announced the decision to the stadium stating: “After review, Manchester City number nine is in an offside position that impacts the ability of the defender so the decision is offside.”
The Newcastle fans cheered loudly at the explanation having previously booed the length of time the officials took to make the decision.
The stilted nature of the implementation of VAR comes in the same week as the FA Cup third round matches which were praised for the flowing nature of play having been officiated without VAR technology involved.
