UEFA believe VAR worked ‘perfectly’ in midweek Champions League games

UEFA have claimed they are pleased with how VAR was used during the latest round of Champions League fixtures.

Manchester United’s tie with Paris Saint-Germain and Porto’s trip to Roma marked the first time that referees had been armed with the new technology and both games passed off relatively incident free.

However, Wednesday’s clash of Ajax and Real Madrid was slightly more controversial with the reigning European champions conceding a goal to their hosts that was ultimately chalked off with the help of VAR.

Argentine full-back Nicolas Tagliafico was the unfortunate individual who was the first player in the history of the competition to see his goal ruled out as both he and team-mate Dusan Tadic were deemed offside.

Despite the contentious start to VAR, UEFA’s chief refereeing officer, Roberto Rosetti, believes the video technology worked well at the Johan Cruijff ArenA.

"I am very happy with the way VAR was implemented," he said.

"The technology worked perfectly, and the refereeing teams performed at a very high level. It showed all the hard work we have put in.

"As we communicated after the match on UEFA's social media platforms, the referee identified that the Ajax player was in an offside position and interfering with the goalkeeper preventing him from playing or being able to play the ball – as the header was being made.

"This was in line with VAR protocol and the goal was correctly overturned and an indirect free-kick given for offside.”

Not only was the decision slightly debatable, but the time it took to disallow the goal was also a big talking point after the match.

However, Rosetti believes it is important to have patience in order to ensure the correct outcome was reached

“The most important thing is that the referee took the right decision,” he said. “Accuracy is more important than speed. Nevertheless we want to be as efficient as possible and we will try to improve this even more in the future.

“But we have to take into account that this was a very complex situation where the VAR had to check two possible offside situations and the referee also had to consider the interference of the attacking player."