PGMOL issue statement on VAR decisions during Tottenham vs Man City

  /  autty

Manchester City will leave the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with plenty of frustration after falling to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Jose Mourinho's Spurs.

City dominated proceedings, but were undone by second half goals from Steven Bergwijn and Heung-Min Son after Aleks Zinchenko was sent off for two red cards.

Things could have been different, though, as City missed a first half penalty before seeing another claim for a potential foul on Raheem Sterling rejected after a VAR review.

Controversy reigned in the first half as Sergio Aguero went down under a challenge from Serge Aurier in the Spurs box. Referee Mike Dean waved play on, but replays instantly showed the decision should be overturned in City's favour.

However, the ball did not go out, and the penalty was not awarded until Dean stopped play two minutes later after being advised by VAR to award the penalty.

Ilkay Gundogan then missed the penalty, before Sterling instantly went to ground as he battled Hugo Lloris for the rebound. After a scuffle between players, a VAR review agreed with the referee and City were denied a second penalty.

Into the second half and Zinchenko received his marching orders for stopping Harry Winks on the break, before Bergwijn and Son stunned City.

Now, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) have explained why there was such a long delay to give the penalty on Aguero and why Sterling was not given a spot kick after Gundogan's miss.

They explained how the referee waited until the ball was in a 'neutral' area before giving the penalty, and then confirmed that Lloris had not fouled Sterling on the rebound.

A PGMOL statement read: "In the 38th minute of Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Serge Aurier challenged Sergio Aguero for the ball in the Spurs penalty area. The on-field decision was no penalty and because the ball remained in play, the game continued while the VAR checked for a possible penalty.

" The VAR then determined that Aurier had tripped Aguero and when the ball was in a neutral area the VAR recommended that the referee stop play and award the penalty.

" From the resulting missed penalty the referee determined that no foul had occurred as Hugo Lloris and Raheem Sterling challenged for the ball. The VAR checked this incident and advised that the on-field decision was correct."

Related: Tottenham Hotspur Manchester City
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