A REFEREE was forced to use a mobile phone during a VAR check in bizarre and chaotic scenes.
The Portuguese Primeira League match between Porto and Arouca ended 1-1 but was dominated by controversy with the hosts demanding the result is “cancelled”.
Arouca scored first via Cristo Gonzalez in the 83rd minute before things took a hectic and unique turn.
Porto were awarded a penalty in the 90th minute with VAR deciding to review the decision.
Referee Miguel Nogueira was then called over to the pitchside monitor but seemed unable to communicate with the VAR hub due to a technical error.
After a lengthy delay, the official was then handed a mobile phone and discussed the possible penalty with his fellow officials.
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Nogueira decided to overturn his own call and no spot-kick was given.
The drama continued as Porto were then awarded with another penalty in the 106th minute.
This time the spot-kick stood, but Wenderson Galeno saw his effort from 12 yards saved by Ignacio De Arruabarrena as Arouca thought they had held on to the three points.
Porto continued to pile the pressure on and eventually equalised when Evanilson netted with the clock at 90+19.
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Eventually, the final whistle was blown with 22 minutes of stoppage time played.
This all came after Porto striker Mehdi Taremi saw his first-half goal chalked off for offside after a VAR check.
The actions of Nogueira has left Sergio Conceicao’s side raging and they released a shock statement after the game asking for the match to be annulled due to misconduct by the ref.
They claim using the phone and not looking at images of the foul on Taremi for the overturned penalty violated league rules and impacted the outcome of the match.
It is Porto’s second week of drama in a row following their 2-1 win away at Rio Ave last weekend.
Porto trailed 1-0 only to find the back of the net twice in injury time to seal an incredible comeback victory.
The Dragons sit third in the league table after four matches and are in this season’s Champions League Group H with Shakhtar Donestk, Barcelona and Royal Antwerp.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
