Pundit Richard Keys has slammed the referee and VAR’s decision to not disallow Manchester City’s second goal in their recent 5-1 win over Fulham in the Premier League.
With the score at 1-1 just before halftime, Nathan Ake put the home side in front after scoring a header from a corner.
However, the goal caused some controversy as Manuel Akanji, who was standing in an offside position, had to move over the ball while it was on its way into the net.
While VAR chose to allow the goal to stand, one pundit immediately took to social media to share his disgust with the decision.
Keys slams VAR decision for City’s second goal
In a recent Twitter post, Keys had this to say on the matter.
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He said: “Scandalous decision at City. No wonder [Marco] Silva keeps getting booked. They’ve just had another one go against them.”
After the match, the Fulham manager shared his frustration with the officials for not disallowing the goal and had this to say about it in his post-match interview.
He said: “Everyone that has played football, who has some knowledge of football, knows 100% sure to disallow that goal. For the [assistant referee] it can be difficult to see an offside position, but for VAR it is impossible not to disallow that goal. That moment had a huge impact on the game.”
The second half of the game saw Erling Haaland score a hat-trick to secure the three points for City and rub salt in the wounds of the west London club.
While City may have been lucky with the decision to not overturn Ake’s goal, it’s clear that with the treble winners having 68% possession and more shots at goal than their opponents (7 vs 6) yesterday, their clinical edge and dominance meant that they deserved to win the game, regardless of what Keys or Silva said.
Moving forward, while it would be ideal to have no controversy surrounding any referee or VAR decisions, the most important thing for the Citizens would be to keep winning games and stay focused on the season.