Eric Dier cut a frustrated figure after Tottenham Hotspur's 1-1 draw with Sporting Lisbon as the defender confronted the referee following his decision to rule out Harry Kane's late strike.
England international Kane thought he had secured Spurs' passage into the knockout stages of the Champions League with a cool finish from Emerson Royal's knockdown. But after a lengthy VAR check, Danny Makkelie awarded a free-kick to Sporting after Kane was found to have been in an offside position.
It meant Spurs had to settle for a point, as Rodrigo Bentancur's second-half strike cancelled out Marcus Edwards' opener with Antonio Conte's side needing a point from their trip to Marseille to qualify for the last-16 of the competition. In a rare scenario, all four teams in Tottenham's group can still go through, as just two points separate Spurs in top spot and Marseille at the bottom of the table.
However, Tottenham would have been through if Kane's goal had stood and Dier was amongst the Spurs players who were furious with Makkelie's decision. As Dier pleaded with the official to explain why it was ruled out, footage emerged of the Dutch official where he could be heard saying: "It was offside."
The former Sporting defender then responded: "But why?! Why?! The ball went backwards!" However, it has been explained why the decision was correct. The direction a ball is played is irrelevant for offside and Kane's offside position was still relevant as the deflection would not have been deemed as a 'deliberate play'.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Tottenham coach Cristian Stellini challenged the referee's decision after the final whistle, but his calm expression showed that he perhaps agreed with the VAR's divisive call. A number of other Tottenham players also surrounded the officials as they couldn't believe that the goal didn't stand.
Conte also vented his frustration and inevitably received a red card for his troubles, and in his post-match press conference, the Italian claimed they would not deny a "big team" of victory and accused the officials of being dishonest.
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Conte said: "The ball was in front of Kane and the goal is a goal. I don’t understand the VAR, the line they put. It's very difficult to comment on this decision, VAR is creating a lot of damage.
"We have to accept. I want to see if we are in another stadium of a big team if they are ready to disallow this type of goal. I feel a lot of injustice, I don’t see positivity with this. I want to see if they are so brave with another big team. I do not see honesty in this. All the people come inside after the decision to disallow and then they come to give me a red card because I’m the most popular person on the pitch."
