Ferencvaros forward Barnabas Varga nodded home in the 17th minute only for the officials chalk it off for offside
Barnabas Varga had his opener against Tottenham ruled out for offsideCredit: Reuters
Varga appeared to be played onside by Cristian Romero but the decision stood after a VAR check
Varga was deflated by the decisionCredit: TNT SPORTS
The Hungarian champions had been on top of Ange Postecoglou’s side in the opening exchanges and a delicious cross from Eldar Civic was placed perfectly onto Varga’s head.
The striker did great to direct it into the far corner and put his side a goal up but soon had his celebrations cut short by a VAR check for offside.
The immediate replay looked to show that Varga was being played onside by Cristian Romero, but the goal was disallowed after a lengthy check.
The TNT Sports commentary team speculated that it could have been because Adama Malouda Traore, who didn’t touch the ball, was deemed to have interfered with play from an offside position.Traore was significantly offside but didn’t appear to have much, if any, of an influence on the passage of play.
However it was confirmed afterwards that Varga was indeed offside and it was just the camera angle that was making him look as though he was onside.
At half-time TNT pundit Joe Cole described it as an “optical illusion”.
However, that didn’t stop fans from taking to social media to fume at the decision.One wrote: “That is an outrageous decision. How is that offside?”
While another added: “Think that’s the worst offside decision i have ever seen”.And a fourth fumed: “That’s the most ridiculous offside I’ve ever seen”.
To make matters even more controversial, just six minutes later Spurs took the lead through Pape Matar Sarr.
Tottenham held onto that lead heading into the break, meaning their inexperienced side – which featured four teenagers – were able to take an advantage into the second half.The second half saw Brennan Johnson net a second to put a cushion on Spurs’ lead.
And that cushion was needed when Varga finally got his goal to pull one back for Ferencvaros in the 90th minute.
But it was too little too late with Spurs leaving Hungary as 2-1 winners.
