Former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha was left stunned after VAR appeared to miss the ball outside the penalty area of Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
The incident occurred early in the second half as Tottenham attempted to hold on to a 2-1 lead over Brentford at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But a moment of madness from Vicario set the hearts of Spurs fans racing.
The Italian goalkeeping coach battled for the ball with Brentford’s Mikkel Damsgaard on the edge of the penalty area.
However, it appears that Vicario touches the ball with his hands outside the penalty area not once, but twice.
Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario appears to handle the ball outside his penalty area
The Italian appeared to have touched the ball with his hands for the second time outside the penalty area
VAR failed to see that Vicario had allegedly handled the ball and remained on the pitch
Despite the overwhelming video evidence, neither Alex Chilowicz nor Darren Cann, who were performing VAR and assistant VAR duties respectively, noticed the indiscretion.
The lack of VAR intervention left Onuoha bewildered.
“Earlier, Guglielmo Vicario came out of his penalty area and tried to touch the ball three times,” Onuoha said on the BBC’s Final Score programme.
‘From the angle we touched the third ball, I think from another angle they would say it was outside the penalty area and that would be a red card.
‘It’s strange that the VAR missed that, very strange, because that’s an important moment in the match.’
Onuoha wasn’t the only one surprised that no action was taken against Vicario, as several fans voiced their opinions about X.
A fan said: ‘How could Vicario do this…’.
Another wrote: ‘How come neither the referee nor the VAR saw this blatant handball from Vicario??? Even worse refereeing in the Premier League.’
The Italian conceded a goal after just 23 seconds when Bryan Mbeumo scored for Brentford
But Vicario made a number of crucial saves in the remainder of the match, giving Spurs the win
A supporter added: ‘This is embarrassing. How did Vicario get away with this?
Even Brentford’s official account on X was astonished that no official noticed.
‘There are a lot of calls for handball on Vicario,’ read Brentford’s mid-game update.
‘He misjudges a cross and looks to play the ball outside his penalty area to prevent Damsgaard from shooting, but he gets nothing!’
An angry emoji was also added to the post.
During Tottenham’s post-match press conference, a reporter asked Postecoglou if he had seen Vicario’s alleged handball.
Postecoglou replied: ‘I think I saw exactly what you saw’.
Even Brentford’s official account on X (Twitter) was surprised by the Vicario incident
Postecoglou responded briefly to the incident when asked about it during his press conference
Brentford manager Thomas Frank approached the incident diplomatically but made it clear it was handball.
“Not only did he look good, he also did it outside the box, but that incident was not decisive for the match,” said Frank.
“It was a mistake. It could have been a free kick for us. It could have helped us. But hey, you never know. I think the chance of a goal from a direct free kick is 0.0543, so probably not the best chance of a goal.
“And I think John Brooks (referee) played a really good game overall. The way he dealt with soft fouls was really good.
“I get what it’s like. We can’t be too, I don’t like the word aggressive, but, in-their-face because it’s just our frustration. We can’t help it. Hey, move on.”
Brentford ultimately failed to score an equaliser as an 85th-minute strike from James Maddison sealed the score for Tottenham.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou desperately needed the result after the team lost the North London derby to Arsenal on Sunday and recorded an unconvincing win over Coventry City in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
For the Bees, the defeat to Tottenham was their third in their last four league games, although the other defeats came against Liverpool and Manchester City.