On Tuesday, Tottenham and Chelsea locked horned in a highly-anticipated Carabao Cup clash, with Spurs winning 1-0 in the first leg of their semi-final clash. However, that victory was marred in controversy.
Harry Kane scored the only goal of the game after winning a 27th-minute penalty. The Englishman was deemed to have been brought down by Kepa Arrizabalaga after the Blues goalkeeper rushed out in an attempt to claim the ball, but many felt the referee got the decision totally wrong.
Not only did fans believe the Tottenham ace dived for the spot-kick, but he also appeared to be offside when he received the pass. Ironically, the linesman had waved off the attack as offside, but after referring the decision to VAR, Michael Oliver overruled that decision and instead awarded a penalty.
Speaking after the game, Maurizio Sarri was understandably upset, as he felt his side was robbed by English referees that are not adapted to using technology. The Italian then went on to bring forward a laptop with footage from Chelsea cameras which appear to show the Three Lions captain was in fact offside.
"At the moment the English referees are not able to use the system. I don't know if they are up for it," the Stamford Bridge boss said (as per the Sun).
Maurizio Sarri brings out Chelsea's analysis footage of the game on a laptop to prove @HKane was offside pic.twitter.com/W4ZSj3o27r
— BeanymanSports (@BeanymanSports) January 8, 2019
"From the video pictures on our camera Kane was offside, clearly offside," Sarri added.
"Our camera was in line with Kane and his head and his knee were offside.
"I only saw our video from our camera. Maybe the VAR camera was in a different position. From our position, he was clearly offside."
Pochettino also confessed after the final whistle that he was not happy to win this way while also criticizing VAR for being confusing. Michael Oliver took 93 seconds to make that controversial decision after reviewing the incident on camera, suggesting that it was a tight call. This controversy will likely be fuel for the critics of VAR ahead of its introduction to the Premier League next season.
