Former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha was left baffled when VAR appeared to fail to detect Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario handling the ball outside his area.
The incident occurred early in the second half as Tottenham looked to preserve a 2-1 lead over Brentford at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But a moment of madness from Vicario left Spurs fans with their hearts in their mouths.
The Italian midfielder challenged Brentford’s Mikkel Damsgaard for the ball on the edge of the 18-yard box.
However, Vicario appears to touch the ball not once, but twice with his hands outside the area.
Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario appears to handle the ball outside his area
The Italian appeared to have handled the ball outside the area for the second time.
The VAR did not detect Vicario’s alleged handling of the ball and it remained on the field of play
Despite overwhelming video evidence, neither Alex Chilowicz nor Darren Cann, who were acting as VAR and VAR assistant respectively, caught the indiscretion.
The lack of VAR intervention left Onuoha baffled.
“Earlier, Guglielmo Vicario came out of his area and made three attempts to touch the ball,” Onuoha told the BBC’s Final Score.
‘From the angle from which we see the third touch, if there had been another angle I think they would say it came outside the area, so it would be a red card.
“It’s strange that the VAR didn’t detect that, very strange, because it was an important moment in the match.”
Onuoha was not alone in his surprise that no action was taken against Vicario, as several fans voiced their opinions about X.
One fan said: “How did Vicario get away with this…?”
Another posted: “How is it possible that neither the referee nor the VAR saw this blatant handball by Vicario? Another horrible refereeing in the Premier League.”
The Italian conceded the goal after 23 seconds when Bryan Mbeumo scored for Brentford.
But Vicario made several important saves throughout the rest of the game and Spurs went on to win.
One supporter added: “This is shameful. How did Vicario get away with this?”
Even the official Brentford account on X I was stunned that no official noticed.
‘Big calls for a handball against Vicario,’ read Brentford’s mid-match update.
‘He misjudges a cross and appears to handle it outside his area to deny Damsgaard a shot, but he gets nothing!’
An angry emoji was also inserted into the post.
At the Tottenham post-match press conference, a reporter asked Postecoglou if he saw Vicario’s alleged handball.
Postecoglou replied: “I think I saw exactly what you saw.”
Even Brentford’s official Twitter account on X was shocked by the Vicario incident.
Postecoglou had a brief response to the incident when asked about it at his press conference.
Brentford manager Thomas Frank took a diplomatic approach to the incident but made it clear it was a handball.
“Not only did he look at it, but he had touched it outside the area, but that incident did not define the game,” Frank said.
‘It was a mistake. It could have been a free kick for us. It could have helped us. But hey, you never know. I think the probability of scoring from a direct free kick is 0.0543, so it’s probably not the highest probability of scoring anyway.
“And I think John Brooks (referee) overall had a really good game. The way he handled the soft fouls both ways was really good.
“I understand the situation. We can’t be too aggressive, I don’t like the word, but aggressive, because it’s our frustration. We can’t do anything about it. Hey, move on.”
In the end, Brentford were unable to find an equaliser as James Maddison’s 85th-minute strike put the result beyond doubt for Tottenham.
The result was much-needed for Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou after the team’s north London derby defeat to Arsenal last Sunday and an unconvincing win over Coventry City in the Carabao Cup third round on Wednesday.
As for the Bees, the defeat to Tottenham was their third in their last four league games, although the other losses were against Liverpool and Manchester City.