Former Spurs striker Robbie Keane was quick to quash a claim Joe Cole made about Harry Kane’s goal in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg.
Kane was bought down in the penalty box by the Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga but the assistant referee raised his flag after Kane went down, to indicate that the striker was offside.
However, after consulting VAR, the offside call was overruled and Spurs were awarded a penalty.
Former Chelsea winger Joe Cole who was acting as a pundit for the match on behalf of Sky Sports along with Robbie Keane, insisted that Arrizabalaga could have fouled Kane noticing that the assistant referee had raised his flag.
Joe Cole said to Sky Sports Football on January 8th at 20:10: “He [Kepa] may have felt that the linesman put his flag up, so he thought he has got a free one on Harry Kane,”
“Look at the Chelsea players, the arms have gone up, they have seen something. Kepa may have seen that and thought ‘right, this is offside I have got a chance here to [leave one on Kane]’.
However, this was swiftly shot down by Robbie Keane who claimed there was no way that Arrizabalaga saw the linesman flag. “There’s no way he has seen the linesmen [flag],” Keane responded. “Absolutely no way…he was focused on Kane and it was a clear penalty.”
What makes Cole’s suggestion even more ridiculous was the fact that the linesman actually did not raise his flag until Kane was bought down. The assistant referees are expected to keep their flag down and only raise it after the conclusion of the attack in games were VAR is at play.
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