Antonio Conte claims ‘VAR is doing a lot of damage’ after Kane goal is disallowed and Tottenham manager sent off

Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte said that VAR ‘is doing a lot of damage’ after a Harry Kane winner against Sporting CP was ruled out in dramatic circumstances on Wednesday, with his team having to settle for a 1-1 draw.

Spurs had gone a goal down to Sporting on 22 minutes when their former player Marcus Edwards scored a great goal to put the away side ahead.

It had looked as though Spurs were going to come away with nothing before Tottenham levelled through Rodrigo Bentancur, and then Kane seemed to have grabbed a winner deep into injury time.

However that goal was chalked off when it was ruled to have been offside on a VAR review, which led to such an explosive reaction from Conte that he was sent off by the referee.

Speaking to BT after the match, he said: “I think the ball was in front of Kane and the goal is a goal. Yeah. I don’t understand the line they put. It is very difficult to comment on this decision.

“VAR is doing a lot of damage. I want to see if in another stadium of a big team if they are ready to disallow this type of goal. I’d like to know this.

“A lot of injustice. I don’t like this type of situation. I see not positive things.

“The second half was positive and we played with a great intensity. We deserved to win but we know what happened.

“I don’t understand why we have to get something from the next game when we can finish the qualification in this game. When you invent this type of situation, you create a lot of damage [to] the club. Also problems.”

The result means that all four sides in Group D can still go through. Spurs are currently top on 8 points whilst Sporting and Eintracht Frankfurt both seven. Marseille sit bottom but have six points.