Confusion continues to reign over Kevin De Bruyne's goal for Manchester City in Madrid, an effort which could prove vital to the club's Champions League hopes.
De Bruyne equalised for City at the Bernabeu after Vinicius Junior had given Real Madrid a first-half advantage. The Belgian's drive from outside the box gave compatriot Thibaut Courtois no chance and left the tie delicately poised going into the second leg.
However, questions were asked over whether the ball went out of play earlier in the phase. Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger claimed VAR should have intervened, but the current technology makes the situation a little more complicated.
"VAR has been created to make more right decisions [based] on facts - is the ball in or out?" Wenger said on beIN Sports. "VAR has to intervene and make the right decision, this is absolutely 100 percent.
"At the moment, I believe we cannot check on the sideline if the ball is in or out, on the VAR. But we have a chip in the ball now, and with a chip in the ball you can check."
Despite the comments from FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development, though, the VAR rules are very clear on the situation. While other incidents can be checked by the Video Assistant Referee, the ball going out of play on the sidelines is not one of them.
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Here's what IFAB'slist of VAR principles says: "A video assistant referee (VAR) is a match official, with independent access to match footage, who may assist the referee only in the event of a ‘clear and obvious error’ or ‘serious missed incident’ in relation to: a. Goal/no goal, b. Penalty/no penalty. c. Direct red card (not second yellow card/caution), d. Mistaken identity (when the referee cautions or sends off the wrong player of the offending team)."
As we can see, the ball going out of play is not among the elements which it is within VAR's power to rule on. Still, as Wenger argues, the presence of a chip in the ball can allow checks to be made.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reflected on the result after the game, with the reigning Premier League champions well-placed to get the job done in front of their own fans next week. City beat Madrid at the Etihad Stadium in last season's semi-finals, only to suffer an extra-time defeat after conceding two late goals in Spain.
"We were better when they scored, they were better when we scored," Guardiola told BT Sport. "It was a tight game. Real Madrid in the semi-final is always a tough one. We turned up, we had good moments, it's difficult with the quality they have on and off the ball. 1-1, final next Wednesday with our people."
