UEFA have reportedly released a statement after a major VAR blunder happened during a Nations League clash.
On Tuesday night, Sweden hosted Azerbaijan at the Strawberry Arena in the Nations League.
The hosts came away 6-0 winners with Sporting Clube de Portugal star Viktor Gyokeres scoring four goals and Tottenham Hotspur forward Dejan Kulusevski netting a brace.
However, the result was marred by a controversial moment involving Swedish striker Alexander Isak.
After initially scoring, the Newcastle United man’s goal was ruled out for offside after a VAR review.
It turns out VAR had made the wrong call after ruling Isak offside when he was not part of the initial build-up play involving Gyokeres.
As per VAR specialist Dale Johnson, who wrote on social media: “At that point, the defender passed the ball to Viktor Gyokeres. Alexander Isak was not part of any offside phase and an offside offence was impossible.”
Speaking after the match, Isak said: “How is that possible? Seriously. It’s almost the worst I’ve seen. I’m happy, of course, that we win, but I score a goal that should be allowed, then it’s clear that you get annoyed.
“I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like this at this level when I’ve been involved. You’ve seen a lot of mistakes, but this one was pretty rough. The VAR referees stood in the player tunnel at halftime. We argued with them, but they stuck to their decision that they had made the right call.”
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He added: “You burn a little, I won’t lie. You draw a line, completely wrong, that’s too bad. I can accept assessment situations, that people can have different opinions and that wrong decisions can happen. But this is not it.”
Now, it has been claimed that UEFA have released a statement admitting an error was made.
As reported by Swedish news outlet Sport Bladet, the statement read: “The offside decision was a mistake by the video assistant referee.”
Luckily, the decision did not have a big impact on Sweden as they ended up winning Group C1, meaning they sealed promotion to League B for the next edition of the competition.
Featured Image Credit: Getty/UEFA
Topics: UEFA, UEFA Nations League, Alexander Isak, Sweden, Football, VAR