The debate on the use of the
Giovanni Lo Celso produced a clear and dangerous stamp on
VAR did review the incident for a possible serious foul play offence, after referee Michael Oliver did not give Lo Celso his marching orders, and the officials at Stockley Park agreed with the decision, believing that the Argentine was unable to plant his foot anywhere else.
But BT Sport revealed as the match progressed, that VAR did admit to making a mistake on the possible red card offence, sparking questions over the competence of those in Stockley Park.
Lo Celso was very lucky to have stayed on the field, having viciously stamped on Azpilicueta as the pair challenged for the ball, and the Spaniard was fortunate to avoid a serious injury from the tackle.
Chelsea went on to clinch a famous double over José Mourinho's Spurs at Stamford Bridge, as goals from Olivier Giroud and Marcos Alonso were enough to edge out the wounded north Londoners.
An own goal from Antonio Rudiger set up a nervy final few minutes, but Frank Lampard's men held on to secure all three points.
All the talk after the match will be on the quality of the referees officiating the match however, and Twitter came to life following the shocking decision from VAR.
Today’s VAR - David Coote -
— Jake Humphrey (@mrjakehumphrey) February 22, 2020
has taken charge of 23 Premier League games.
Today’s ref - Michael Oliver -
has taken charge of 254 Premier League games.
Why not let a man over 10 times more experienced in the PL look at a screen 2 seconds away from him & make an on-field call路♂️
Oliver was not asked to review the incident himself, despite standing only metres away from the pitch-side monitor, which is stationed there for the referee's benefit over controversies like the Lo Celso tackle.
VAR has now admitted they made an error on the Lo Celso - Azpi incident.
— Alex Goldberg (@AlexGoldberg_) February 22, 2020
Oh, thanks, I feel better now...
The biggest farce of it all is if Lo Celso had an hand in an equaliser whilst Stockly Park admitted VAR got it wrong, absolutely farce, could lose a manager his job, lose a top 4 spot. It has to stop, once again VAR is ruining football, more mistakes then before
— Lampard Cultist (@MadMontana) February 22, 2020
Everyone knew that Giovani Lo Celso should’ve been sent off, VAR disagreed. 15/ 20 minutes later they’re now saying that they made a mistake that it was a red card. What an absolute shambles.
— Ryan. (@Vintage_Utd) February 22, 2020
This incident has created a real storm over the worth and effectiveness of VAR in the Premier League, and many will point to this failure as a reason to scrap the system all together.
VAR admits they got it wrong and it should have been a red for Lo Celso.....Scrap it already! How can it be getting things wrong like that? Not fit for the purpose
— Mark Goldbridge (@markgoldbridge) February 22, 2020
The var panel put their hands up pic.twitter.com/mtTsbXY5uC
— Andyb66 (@AndyButcher66) February 22, 2020
Source : 90min