Manchester City left St James’ Park with a 2-0 first-leg advantage in the Carabao Cup semi-final, but the result was swallowed by controversy after a dramatic VAR intervention wiped out what looked like Antoine Semenyo’s second goal of the night.
Semenyo’s Strike and the Long Wait
The £65m January recruit opened the scoring on 53 minutes and seemed to double his tally 10 minutes later, flicking Tijjani Reijnders’ cross beyond Nick Pope to spark wild celebrations. Those cheers were short-lived. After a painstaking five minutes and 30 seconds of review, the goal was chalked off when VAR ruled Erling Haaland had interfered from an offside position.
“The second goal should have stood,” Semenyo said after the match.
On the pitch, Haaland and Newcastle’s Malick Thiaw were tangled in a physical duel; on the screen, referee Chris Kavanagh replayed the moment repeatedly before delivering the decision that stunned the St James’ Park crowd.
Frustration from the City Camp
Pep Guardiola tried to put a brave face on the outcome, telling Sky Sports the setback would ultimately make his team “stronger.” Captain Bernardo Silva was less diplomatic, voicing exasperation after a season already marked by contentious calls at the same ground. “It should have been 3-0,” Silva said, adding that City have grown accustomed to decisions going against them at this venue.
City did find a late cushion when Rayan Cherki slotted home deep into stoppage time, but the disallowed strike remained the dominant talking point.
Technology Falters, Debate Ignites
This was the opposite of the FA Cup weekend’s VAR-free flow. The semi-automated offside system failed to produce a clear read — a repeat of the glitch that marred the teams’ December meeting — forcing VAR Stuart Attwell to revert to manual line-drawing. That technical hitch stretched the review and intensified the sense of uncertainty.
Technically, the ruling stands: Haaland was offside and in contact with a defender who might have been impeded from blocking the shot. Yet the optics are brutal. Supporters saw a goal that looked legitimate until VAR unearthed an offside nuance that would have gone unnoticed without the technology.
The Wider Question for the Game
The controversy underlines a growing tension in modern football: a decision can be legally correct yet feel deeply unsatisfying to fans and players. The lengthy delay, the visible struggle with the tech, and the sense that VAR intervened where the human eye would not have all combine to leave a sour aftertaste.
In short, the call may be right on paper, but for many watching, the game has lost something in the process.
What Comes Next
As the tie heads to the second leg, the headlines will focus less on the scoreline and more on the debate VAR has reignited. Whether the technology can be refined or whether referees will learn to temper intervention remains to be seen — but for one night in Newcastle, the spotlight shone as brightly on the officials as it did on the players.
