VAR sparks fury as handball given against Danny Rose for penalty but Lloris saves from Aguero
VAR once again stole the show on a big European night after Manchester City were awarded a penalty against Tottenham.
Raheem Sterling had his shot blocked by Danny Rose, as the ball appeared to strike his arm.
After an eternity, referee Bjorn Kuipers blew the whistle and pointed to the spot at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – despite minimal protestations from City players.
Sergio Aguero stepped up to take the spot kick with only Hugo Lloris in his way – and both players enjoying very different seasons.
However, Lloris the underdog pulled off a superb save to deny the red-hot Argentine and keep the score at 0-0.
The incident echoed that of Manchester United’s thrilling win over Paris Saint-Germain last month.
ECHOES OF UNITED
That night, United were awarded a late penalty after Presnel Kimpembe was deemed to have handled a speculative Diogo Dalot shot.
Marcus Rashford rifled home the ensuing spot-kick as Man Utd incredibly turned around a 2-0 first-leg deficit to beat the French champions.
According to the laws of the game, both the decisions involved United and City were correct.
However, swarms of fans on Twitter and even pundits were quick to condemn the decision.
Especially after a similar incident just moments later occurred during Liverpool’s game against Porto.
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On Merseyside, Alisson punched a ball clear, with the ball clattering into Trent Alexander-Arnold – who was standing just a yard away.
After being sent off for a video replay, it was deemed NOT enough to be a penalty.
It would have been very, very soft, but the lack of penalty awarded is likely to frustrate Spurs fans – who were almost punished for a near-identical offence.