'Ridiculous': Man City fume over VAR controversy in Newcastle win as Antoine Semenyo goal ruled out

Carabao Cup semi-final lead could have been more emphatic, but for tight offside call that came after review lasting for more than five minutes

Manchester City were left fuming after a high-profile VAR controversy that occurred during their Carabao Cup semi-final tie against Newcastle .

Pep Guardiola’s side will take a 2-0 lead back to the Etihad Stadium for the return fixture on February 4 after goals from new signing Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki downed the holders in a hard-fought contest at St James’ Park on Tuesday night.

However, they will feel that advantage should have been more emphatic after in-form winger Semenyo - their new £62.5million signing from Bournemouth who also netted on his debut in Saturday’s 10-1 demolition of Exeter in the FA Cup - saw a second effort contentiously disallowed with just over 20 minutes remaining on Tyneside.

The Ghana international, permitted to play against Newcastle due to a rule change this season despite already featuring in the Carabao Cup for Bournemouth, had escaped his marker to flick home Tijjani Reijnders’ corner delivery from close range and seemingly put City 2-0 up in the first leg, only for the goal to eventually be chalked off due to a marginal offside decision against Erling Haaland .

The lengthy delay as the VAR team led by Stuart Attwell checked the potential offside lasted for some five-and-a-half minutes, drawing an angry and bemused reaction from fans and pundits alike - many of whom questioned if the right decision had been reached despite such a long wait.

After so many reviews of several different replays and camera angles, it was eventually decided that Haaland - who was fractionally offside - had impacted upon defender Malick Thiaw, which did appear to be the correct call by the letter of the law.

“After review, Manchester City number 9 is in an offside position and impacts on the ability of the defender. Final decision is offside,” referee Chris Kavanagh informed the crowd.

Both the decision and the time taken over the review have received strong criticism, with Semenyo saying to the television cameras as he walked off the pitch at full-time: “The second goal should have counted by the way, just saying.”

He later added in a post-match interview with Sky Sports: “The referee came and spoke to me and told me what was going on, but it is what it is.”

Frustrated City captain Bernardo Silva told ITV: “It should have been 3-0, but we are quite used to this at the moment.

“I don’t know what to say, I don’t want to say too much because we know how these things work.

“I saw it and it just looks ridiculous for me, but it is what it is. As I said, it’s so frustrating because the last time we came here to St James’ Park in the Premier League, we also had a lot of decisions going against us.

“Once again tonight even though we won, it was just quite frustrating to be honest.”

City boss Pep Guardiola then said: “Four officials and VAR were not able to take the decision, they had to go to the referee.

“We know how it works and that will make us stronger. It's in that situation how we react. It's the semi-finals. We play for a lot to reach the finals. It will make us stronger.”