The Ghanian was denied his third goal for City
Pep Guardiola launched into VAR last night, in the aftermath of a controversial decision to disallow an Antoine Semenyo goal.
In the 63rd minute of the clash, Semenyo looked to have scored a second for his side, flicking a header past Nick Pope in the Newcastle net.
What followed however, was an arduous six-minute delay, in which VAR officials first had to draw lines to establish that Erling Haaland had been offside, before finally sending on-field referee Chris Kavanagh to the pitchside monitor.
He determined the Norwegian had interfered with play, and eventually ruled out the goal.
Even though the decision was technically correct, the time it took to reach that call significantly disrupted the match.
Pep’s side still came out as 2-0 winners, thanks to new signings Semenyo and Rayan Cherki, ensuring they brought a healthy first-leg lead back to the Etihad.
Despite the impressive victory, that banished the blues from a 2-1 defeat at St James’ Park earlier in the season, Tuesday’s match will go down in history for one reason only, due to officiating controversy, and Guardiola’s explosive reaction to it.
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It may well be the case that VAR is a subject the 54-year-old closely associates with Newcastle’s famous ground.
It was only weeks ago that his side were denied what appeared to be a clear penalty when Fabian Schar took down Phil Foden in the penalty area. The Premier League have since accepted failing to award that penalty was a mistake.
When speaking to press after full-time of Tuesday’s semi-final first leg, Guardiola did make reference to that past incident, saying: “I’d like to know why VAR in the 60th minute of the Premier League game against Newcastle – that we lost 2-1 – it was 0-0 and it was a penalty for [Fabian] Schar on Phil Foden, not even consideration.”
“In the 20th minute there is an unbelievable penalty for the shot for Jeremy Doku off the hand, and not even VAR,” he added.
“I’m pretty sure Howard Webb [technical director for Professional Game Match Officials] is going to call me tomorrow to take explanations for that.
“Today was more than six minutes [reviewing] and we’re not even able to discuss it with the referee. But they will call me.”
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