Why did VAR disallow Romelu Lukaku’s second goal in Belgium vs Slovakia?

VAR disallowed Romelu Lukaku goal vs Slovakia

Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku saw a goal disallowed in the second half, much to his dismay. Having spurned two glorious opportunities in the opening stanza, the AS Roma striker appeared to finally redeem himself by getting his side level, only to see it chalked off following a VAR review.

With Ivan Schranz giving Slovakia a shock lead in the seventh minute, the Red Devils had been trailing from early on. Domenico Tedesco’s side huffed and puffed in search of an equalizer, but struggled to carve out clear chances.

On two occasions when they did, Lukaku wasted it, firing straight at Martin Dubravka with the first, and then making a heavy touch for the second to see it go begging. Then in the 56th minute, the 31-year-old had the ball in the back of the net by latching onto a header from Amadou Onana and Belgium had seemingly restored parity.

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However, following a close VAR review, the goal was ruled out, as Lukaku was clearly in an offside position. He was a few meters ahead of the last Slovakian defender, leading to the assistant referees ruling it out.

In the 86th minute, tragedy struck again for the former Chelsea and Inter Milan hitman, as another goal was disallowed, this time for a handball by Lois Openda in the buildup. Koen Casteels sent a high ball for Openda, who raced forward with it after escaping his marker, and squared it for Lukaku to fire home.

Belgium missed four big chances against Slovakia

At the time of writing, Belgium had missed four big chances in the game against Slovakia, the most by the side at the European championship since 1980 against Spain (also four). This includes Johan Bakayoko’s effort cleared off the line by David Hancko in the 63rd minute as the Falcons demonstrated a stupendous piece of defending to frustrate their mighty rivals.

Belgium next play Romania, who beat Ukraine 3-0 earlier in the day, whereas Slovakia face Ukraine.

Also Read: Romelu Lukaku misses a huge chance for Belgium; Slovakia makes them pay