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Football London
Football London
Sport
Josh Challies & Liam Wood

Why VAR ruled out Edinson Cavani's goal for Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur

A governing body which overseas VAR decisions has moved to explain why Tottenham were handed a reprieve by officials during their Premier League clash with Manchester United.

Before goals from Son Heung-min and Fred were allowed, at either end, United had a would-be opener chalked off by the much-maligned video replay system.

Indeed, that controversial moment came when experienced striker Edinson Cavani raced through on goal and fired past Spurs captain Hugo Lloris.

However, much to the anger of United, Tottenham were handed a lifeline when referee Chris Kavanagh issued a u-turn on his original decision - much to the fury of neutrals and pundits such as Gary Lineker watching on.

Following a tussle between Scott McTominay and eventual goalscorer Heung-min, play was allowed to continue as Cavani, subsequently, thought he had opened the scoring.

Kavanagh was then instructed to take a second look at his pitchside monitor - before ultimately changing his mind as Spurs proceeded to edge ahead in the run-up to half-time.

As declared by Sky Sports presenter David Jones at half-time, the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOB) has since shed light on the controversial decision.

A short statement read: "It wasn't part of McTominay's natural running movement and it was careless."

However, that wasn't enough to appease a panel who joined Jones for coverage - namely former United captain Roy Keane, Micah Richards and Jamie Redknapp - who all disagreed with Kavanagh and the PGMOB's explanation.

Keane said: "I'm amazed, really, I have to say. If that's a foul, we should all go home, it's really bizarre.

"For a player like Son to roll around like that, it's embarrassing. Cavani's movement is fantastic. That can't be a foul, it's not just Son - to be fair, Rashford did it 10 minutes earlier, both centre-forwards rolling around screaming.

"The referee is under huge pressure, they're doubting every decision they make now. I think he's got this wrong."

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