Conte on Kane’s disallowed goal vs Sporting Lisbon: ‘VAR is causing a lot of damage’

Antonio Conte said VAR is “causing a lot of damage” following Harry Kane’s controversial disallowed goal against Sporting Lisbon.

Spurs were drawing 1-1 with Sporting after goals from Rodrigo Bentancur and Marcus Edwards in their Champions League Group D fixture on Wednesday evening at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Conte’s side thought they had snatched victory and an important three points, which would have sealed their qualification into the last 16 of the competition when Kane swept the ball home in the 95th minute.

But the match was paused due to a lengthy VAR check for offside, which continued into the ninth minute of additional time.

The goal was then overturned, with a furious Conte given a red card by the referee for his reaction to the goal being disallowed.

Conte’s red card means he will be watching Spurs’ final group game against Marseille from the stands at the Stade Velodrome.

After the match, the Italian manager told BT Sport: “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.

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

“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.”

What exactly happened?

BT Sport’s Rio Ferdinand described the finale as “carnage”.

In the fifth minute of stoppage time, Ivan Perisic swung a cross from the left channel to the back post.

Emerson Royal was able to meet that and nodded back across goal. His header clipped Sporting’s Flavio Nazinho, before popping up in front of Kane, who spun to fire into the net from close range.

Conte leapt for joy with his staff but his celebrations were short-lived and his players were left in disbelief.

Why was the goal ruled out?

Kane was ruled offside due to his knee but Matt Doherty said: “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.”

The relevance of ball’s direction of travel is not referenced in the IFAB’s offside laws.

UEFA has not provided any clarification since the full-time whistle but the ball came off the defender and the VAR’s task was to deem whether or not it was a “deliberate play” rather than a deflection.

Law 11 states: “A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched by a team-mate is only penalised on becoming involved in active play by… gaining an advantage by playing the ball or interfering with an opponent when it has rebounded or been deflected off the goalpost, crossbar, match official or an opponent.

“A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately plays the ball, including by deliberate handball, is not considered to have gained an advantage.”

Conte and plenty of others in the game were certainly not impressed.

What are the permutations for Spurs now?

Spurs are on eight points heading into their final group game against Marseille, who are on six points. Frankfurt and Sporting are currently tied on seven points.

If Spurs lose to Marseille in the final match round, and Frankfurt and Sporting draw, it could leave Marseille as the group winner on nine points and the other three sides tied on eight points.

Article 17 of the Champions League regulations states that if two or more teams are equal on points, their rankings are first determined by their head-to-head record.

Sporting have the superior head-to-head record from the three sides, having beaten Spurs 2-0 and Frankfurt 3-0 as well as amassing a total of seven points from their encounters. Spurs have managed five points from the games between the sides.

Therefore, in that scenario, Sporting would qualify.

Spurs will qualify for the round of 16 if they avoid defeat against Marseille.

(Photo: Getty Images)