Antonio Conte accuses VAR of causing ‘damage’ to Tottenham after Sporting Lisbon controversy 
Posted by  badge Boss on Oct 27, 2022 - 11:55AM
Antonio Conte fumed at VAR after Tottenham’s draw with Sporting Lisbon (Pictures: Getty)

accused VAR of ‘doing a lot of damage’ after were denied a late victory over Sporting Lisbon.

Spurs captain sent the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium wild when he swept home Emerson Royal’s knockdown in the last minute of injury-time.

But the goal was ruled out for offside after a three-minute VAR check, while Tottenham manager Conte was shown a red card in the ensuing chaos.

Only moments before Conte was dancing on the touchline and celebrating what he thought was a potentially crucial goal to Tottenham’s Champions League hopes.

Speaking after the match, a dejected Conte said: ‘I think the ball was in front of Kane and the goal is a goal. Yeah. I don’t understand the line they put. It very difficult to comment on this decision.

‘VAR is doing a lot of damage. I want to see if in another stadium of a big team if they are ready to disallow this type of goal. I’d like to know this.

‘A lot of injustice. I don’t like this type of situation. I see not positive things.

‘I don’t understand why we have to get something from the next game when we can finish the qualification in this game. When you invent this type of situation, you create a lot of damage of the club. Also problems.

‘The second half was positive and we played with a great intensity. We deserved to win but we know what happened.’

Victory would have guaranteed Spurs a place in the Champions League knockout stages but they will now need at least a draw in Marseille in their final group game to progress.

Tottenham were second best for much of their clash against Sporting and former Spurs starlet Marcus Edwards gave the visitors a deserved first-half lead.

Sporting Lisbon had two huge chances to put the game to bed with around 15 minutes remaining and Tottenham equalised through Rodrigo Bentancur shortly after to set up a grandstand finish.

Spurs thought they had nicked it at the death but were left crestfallen after a lengthy VAR check adjudged Kane to be in an offside position.

Tottenham defender Matt Doherty said: ‘I think you can see from the celebrations we thought we won it. I don’t really know what happened at the end.

‘I thought because it went backwards and hit a defender it was a different phase of play. I’ll have to look at the rule book. A few of us don’t have a clue what happened.

‘If we’re being honest we didn’t play that well. They nullified us in the first half and deserved to be ahead.

‘We’re top of the group. It’s not how we wanted the night to go but it’s still in our hands.’

Tottenham were left crestfallen (Picture: Getty)

Everton winger Andros Townsend, meanwhile, said VAR is ‘killing the raw emotion’ after watching his former Tottenham team draw with Sporting.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: ‘The bottom line for me, whether it’s offside or onside is irrelevant. I don’t like VAR for this reason, as a football fan, you’re killing the raw emotion of the game.

‘You’ve seen Conte running on the pitch, injured players are running on the pitch. Harry Kane has gone mad, the fans have gone mad. And then 10 minutes later the goal gets disallowed.

‘This is not what football is about. Football is about raw emotion. Slowly VAR is dragging out the raw emotion of the game we love.’

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