VAR: “The game is over” – Bad night for VAR in the semi-final

Former Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers striker Chris Sutton agreed with Guardiola and Silva and said that Kavanagh’s ruling seemed like “pure guesswork.”

“I think the game is over,” Sutton added. “Will Thiaw really stop it? The distance from Semenyu is a yard, a yard and a half. Thiaw won’t react to that.”

Former Liverpool and England midfielder Jamie Redknapp and Newcastle defender Dan Byrne said it was the right decision to rule out Semenyu’s attempt, despite their criticism of the process.

“If they had scored the goal, there wouldn’t have been a single person who looked at that and thought it shouldn’t have been allowed,” Redknapp said.

“But under the letter of the law, whether we like it or not, it is the right decision.”

Meanwhile, Byrne, who missed the match due to injury, added: “I think it’s the right decision. I don’t like personal offside. It’s either offside, or it’s not.”

“We don’t want to see that, but under the letter of the law it shouldn’t be allowed.”

Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards said: “I understand the process but VAR was not brought in for that reason here.

“It’s against the goals, which they said they wouldn’t do, and they said they wouldn’t referee the match again.

“This, for me, is re-refereeing the match. They both do it. That may be true, but I don’t think we should score goals for this. Why take five minutes?”