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Football

20th Dec 2020

More VAR fuelled fury as James Maddison goal disallowed for offside

James Maddison thought he had made it 2-0 to Leicester shortly after half-time, only to have his goal ruled out for offside by VAR

Reuben Pinder

The fun police are at it again

James Maddison thought he had doubled Leicester City’s lead against Tottenham with an emphatic finish past Hugo Lloris, only to have his goal disallowed after a VAR review.

The midfielder had made a seemingly perfectly timed run in behind the Tottenham defence and was picked out by James Justin. After a brilliant first touch, Maddison hit the ball across Hugo Lloris into the far corner before racing away to celebrate.

Nobody batted an eyelid. Except maybe Spurs fans in disbelief that their team had surrendered another easy goal. But nobody objected to the goal standing.

The professional grasses at Stockley Park had other ideas, though.

Reviewing the goal, the VAR checked a possible offside, drawing some arbitrary lines on the a freezeframe from an unreliable angle, before coming to the conclusion that James Maddison’s armpit was marginally in front of the last defender, and therefore the goal should be disallowed.

Fans were not impressed, with many saying VAR is ruining football.

Twitter user David Rawson pointed out that in the screengrab used by VAR, the ball is blurred, meaning it’s moving, and had therefore been kicked a few frames beforehand.

“They need to look a fraction earlier, and if they can’t (because the frame rate isn’t quick enough) they need to stop pretending this thing is accurate,” he said.