Manchester City have been on the wrong end of several big VAR calls in recent times but they were the beneficiaries on Saturday against Aston Villa after Kevin De Bruyne was credited with controversial goals.
Pep Guardiola’s side had to wait until the first minute of the second half to break the deadlock against obdurate opponents when Raheem Sterling raced clear to score his 17th goal of the season for club and country.
City wrapped up the points midway through the second period when De Bruyne whipped in a trademark cross from the left and the ball sneaked past Tom Heaton, apparently via the merest of touches from David Silva, with Sterling swaying out of the way to avoid being adjudged offside.
VAR studied the incident for several minutes and ultimately awarded the goal to De Bruyne, despite his teammate Silva informing referee Graham Scott that he had got the decisive touch, but the goal was given with no definitive camera angle available to the team reviewing the action back at Stockley Park.
‘Manchester City’s second goal was given because there as no definitive angle or view for the VAR official to show that David Silva had touched the ball. When Kevin de Bruyne strikes it the check was made whether Raheem Sterling was offside and he was shown to be onside,’ read statement from the Premier League match centre.
Kevin de Bruyne makes it two!
Man City are made to wait for it, but after consulting VAR the goal stands. pic.twitter.com/NoNFfvDCIS
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) October 26, 2019
Asked why the match official was unable to relay Silva’s admission to the VAR team, former Premier League referee Peter Walton told BT Sport: ‘The information that the referee can pass on to Stockley Park is the information that the referee sees.
‘Sometimes players try to bluff the referee and you don’t take everything they say at face value. Silva wants the goal and De Bruyne wants the goal so it’s up to the referee to decide.
‘I don’t think he touched the ball I think it’s the spin of the ball when it hits the deck. It’s an optical illusion and the VAR would have looked at it exactly the same way I would have done.
‘It’s down to the VAR it’s adjudicated. Sterling was not offside when the official shot came in.
‘If the ball would have touched silva we’d have stopped again and seen Sterling in front of forwards and interfering with the line of sight of Heaton the goalkeeper.’
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