Tottenham advances after 4-3 loss to Man City, with VAR nullifying “Raheem Sterling wins the game all over again!” call

Wednesday’s Champions League second-leg quarterfinal between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur was one of the zaniest in a while. That match saw four goals scored in the first 11 minutes, and it finished 4-3 for City, but that allowed Spurs to advance (they won the first leg 1-0 at home, producing a 4-4 aggregate score that let them advance on the away goals rule). But for a moment in stoppage time, it looked like City’s Raheem Sterling had scored the crucial extra goal that would send them through instead. That would have been Sterling’s third goal of the match, and it led to a great “Raheem Sterling wins the game all over again!” call:

https://twitter.com/_SportsPlug/status/1118620656327909376

However, as noted in that tweet, the exuberance wouldn’t last long. The goal wound up being disallowed thanks to an offsides call against City’s Sergio Aguero, which came from the video assistant referee (VAR). And it even interrupted the commentator’s breakdown of the goal:

https://twitter.com/brlive/status/1118619066049101825

And Tottenham would hold on to lose 4-3, but advance on away goals. The whole match was a bizarre roller coaster, but the ending might have been the weirdest part of it all.