Referee Chris Kavanagh reviews the VAR monitor, which resulted in a goal scored by Antoine Semenyo of Manchester City (not pictured) being ruled out for offside during the Carabao Cup Semi Final First Leg match between Newcastle United and Manchester City at St James' Park on January 13, 2026 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)placeholder image
Referee Chris Kavanagh reviews the VAR monitor, which resulted in a goal scored by Antoine Semenyo of Manchester City (not pictured) being ruled out for offside during the Carabao Cup Semi Final First Leg match between Newcastle United and Manchester City at St James' Park on January 13, 2026 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Newcastle United lost 2-0 to Manchester City in the first-leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.
Semenyo opened the scoring in the 53rd minute when Jeremy Doku’s low cross was flicked into the winger’s path by Bernardo Silva. Man City then added a second in stoppage time when Cherki got on the end of Rayan Ait-Nouri’s pass.
‘It’s crap’ - Alan Shearer not happy disallowed Man City goal v Newcastle United
Pep Guardiola’s side felt aggrieved not to by 2-0 up earlier when a second Semenyo goal was ruled out with Erling Haaland deemed offside in the build-up.
VAR officials spent over four minutes reviewing the incident, using superimposed lines to determine Haaland was a toe further forward than Malick Thiaw.
Referee Chris Kavanagh was then called to the pitch-side monitor and ruled that Haaland was impacting Thiaw’s ability to play the ball from an offside position.
And despite his Newcastle’s allegiances, the decision did not go down well with Alan Shearer.
Journalist Henry Winter wrote on X: “VAR has to be quicker. It can’t be as forensic & time-consuming as this. Four-minute delay, can’t be clear and obvious, both holding. VAR here to stay - age of technology - but VAR-free FA Cup had games flowing and fans loving it. 90-sec limit on decision-making please.”
And in response, Shearer said: “Agreed. I’d be going mad if that was against Newcastle. It’s crap and they have got it all wrong. 5cm excuse one week. No 5cm the next.”
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