Harry Kane’s last-gasp goal for Tottenham against Sporting was ruled out for offside after a long VAR check
(Picture: PA)Sporting CP boss Ruben Amorim extolled the virtues of VAR after his side held Tottenham to a controversial draw in the Champions League.
Group D remains very tightly poised heading into matchday six after Wednesday’s chaotic stalemate at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where Harry Kane was denied a last-gasp winner that would have sent his team through after former Spurs youngster Marcus Edwards’ first-half goal had been cancelled out by Rodrigo Bentancur.
The England captain hooked home with almost the last kick of the game to spark pandemonium on the pitch, in the stands and on the touchline in north London, though his effort was eventually ruled out for a marginal offside after a lengthy VAR check.
Conte was sent off by Dutch referee Danny Makkelie for his angry protests and bitterly bemoaned the use of VAR in his irate post-match interviews, claiming it was “doing a lot of damage” as his team were left needing to achieve at least a draw away in Marseille next week to reach the last 16.
“I want to see if in another stadium of a big team if they are ready to disallow this type of goal,” a furious Conte remarked. “I’d like to know this. A lot of injustice.”
However, smiling Sporting counterpart Amorim defended the use of the technology in his own, sunnier post-match press conference after a potentially vital result for the Primeira Liga giants as they look to make the knockout stages.
“I like it because it’s fair,” the Portuguese said of VAR. “Most of the time. I know there is a lot of problems sometimes because it’s a hard decision, but like I said I didn’t see the footage.
“For me, it was very good. For Antonio Conte, it was very bad. It’s football. For me it’s a good tool to improve football.
“For the fans sometimes it’s not so good, but I think it’s fair.”
