Antonio Conte was incredibly unhappy with the usage of VAR in modern football following Tottenham’s disallowed late winner against Sporting.
The North London side did not have a positive evening against the Portuguese opposition in the Champions League on Wednesday, falling 1-0 down in the first half. They found an equaliser with 10 minutes to go thanks to Rodrigo Bentancur and thought Harry Kane had scored a winner in extra time, only for the goal to be disallowed due to offside.
Speaking in a press conference today, Conte was asked if VAR was ruining the emotion and excitement of football.
“I repeat, I don’t know, for me I continue to think it’s impossible to make mistakes with VAR. It’s impossible. Because you have a screen, you have time. It’s impossible to make mistakes and for this reason I don’t like this.
“It’s the same if the coach can see the end of the game and you can make different substitutions. If I see this, I can do this, I can change. For me it’s impossible to make a wrong decision with VAR and also to have four, five or six minutes for the people to stay there.
“To stay there five or six minutes already means you have confusion in your mind. It’s incredible. I justify the mistake of the referee, I always said this.
“But it was incredible that against Newcastle the VAR didn’t see that a player blocked Hugo Lloris. Why didn’t he call the referee? Why, why? It was so clear.
“Another big, big mistake. It was very difficult to comment on this because we’re talking about a situation that’s so clear that to find an answer is difficult.
“I hope in every situation to see honesty. I only ask for this, honesty. But to make mistakes with VAR, it means you’re really, really… I don’t want to say what I think…”
Although Spurs currently sit third in the Premier League table, things are not all rosy in North London for Conte, who is being increasingly linked with a possible return to Juventus next summer. Tottenham have not won in two weeks and looked uninspiring in their last three outings, frustrating fans.
1. Enough already. Discipline Antonio for these comments because VAR decision in the Tottenham-Sporting game was correct.
2. Anyone remembers Benzema’s offside in Liverpool-Real from last season?
The same thing happened there: a pas.s that was not meant for Karim was intercepted by Fabinho and got to Benzema who was in offside. VAR scratched that goal.
And guess what Conte? It happened against the biggest team in our solar system!
(Clarification: Fabinho is a Liverpool player.)
Stupid FI censor program, I freakin’ ht you!
VAR was supposed to be for a correction of a clear and obvious error.. 6 min to find the error is not clear and obvious
Calciarore10,
Show the Kane VAR image to a million people who understand football rules and they will all say it is a CLEAR and OBVIOUS offside.