Referee Serdar Gozubuyuk left Manchester United fans at Old Trafford and home baffled when he went to the pitch-side monitor to double check Simon Deli's handball.
The Club Brugge defender bizarrely pulled off a save to deny Daniel James an opening goal in the Europa League tie, despite Simon Mignolet being in goal behind him.
While admittedly the stop was impressive, the strange decision by Deli saw him rightly dismissed.
But as Bruno Fernandes waited to take United's penalty, Gozubuyuk made the VAR signal after an in-ear message from his colleagues.
With the handball so clear and obvious many were left confused as the official watched the replays of the incident over and over.
The reason why was to check if Mignolet could have saved James' shot.
If the keeper could have prevented the goal then Deli's handball would, in normal terms, just be a normal handball and yellow card.
The official ruling reads: "Where a player denies the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by a handball offence the player is sent off wherever the offence occurs."
With the referee not conclusively knowing whether Mignolet would have saved the shot or not, and Deli's act proving intentional, he was left no choice but to let the red card stand.
