Did VAR Officials Use The Wrong Frames To Disallow Ajax's Goal Vs Chelsea?

By Tom Sanders

VAR sparked another outrage last night after Ajax had a controversial goal disallowed in their game against Chelsea after officials appeared to analyse the wrong frames.

Chelsea came out on top of their clash with Ajax last night, beating the Dutch champs 1-0 in Amsterdam.

The blues sealed the win thanks to an 87th minute goal from Michy Batshuayi, who smashed a close-range ball in off the crossbar to ensure his side's victory.

But the night wasn't without controversy, with VAR once again making the headlines after yet another controversial call.

The incident occurred in the first half, when Ajax went 1-0 up in the 35th minute after a brilliant cross into the box from Hakim Ziyech was tapped home by Quincy Promes.

However, the goal was later ruled offside following a VAR review from the referee. The angle and frames shown on TV and throughout the stadium appeared to corroborate this decision, showing that Promes was indeed a few millimeters offside.

But there was even more controversy after the match, when more footage emerged that suggested that the wrong frames were used to analyse the decision and that Promes was indeed onside when Ziyech initially crossed the ball.

The two differing frames were quickly picked up by BeIn Sports and analysed in the post-match coverage, which prompted a furious response from punditry team.

"It's very difficult to get that sort of call right when you're dealing with milliseconds, millimetres and inches" claimed Tim Sherwood, speaking as a pundit for BeIN.

"I don't think the technology's out there to decide that, and if it is then the guys who are doing it, which are referees, are not qualified to use it. You need to be an architect!"

Elsewhere in the studio FIFA ambassador Marcel Desailly even went so far so far as to say that officials "used the VAR technology wrong" during an attempted analysis of the situation and claimed that he would be bringing the incident up with colleagues at FIFA.

See the clip and the analysis of the situation below:

The decision could have a wide-ranging effect on the outcome of Group H.

Before kickoff Chelsea were third in their group, behind Ajax and Valencia, but after last night's result they now move to the top of the group.

Despite the VAR shenanigans though Frank Lampard's side were in a jubilant mood following the final whistle, with the manager quick to parise his team in the post-match conference.

"I'm delighted with every element of the performance," he said.

"I think we're allowed to be excited tonight. That's the blueprint. There are no excuses for us now. That's the standard and we can't drop it.

"The young players are still babies in terms of Champions League minutes so this was a huge test for them."

Chelsea are now equal with Ajax at the top of Group H, both of them on 6 points each.

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