VAR strikes again.
Footballers might want to wait to hear confirmation of a goal before they get carried away with their celebrations, as Marek Hamsik found out on Sunday afternoon.
Hamsik was convinced he’d doubled Napoli’s lead in their Serie A clash with SPAL this weekend.
Napoli were heavy favourites against the league’s newcomers and SPAL looked destined for a long afternoon when Allan found the net after just six minutes.
But the underdogs defended resolutely from that point on and held Napoli to their single goal lead, despite Hamsik’s impassioned belief that he’d scored his side’s second of the game on the hour mark.
Hamsik headed home a looped cross and wheeled away in celebration, only for the dreaded VAR to be consulted and rule out his goal.
The Slovakia international didn’t anticipate the input of the video referee as he destroyed the corner flag with his celebration.
Bruttissima entrata con il piede a martello di Hamsik, pericolosissima per la bandierina.
Immagini che non vorremmo mai vedere. #NapoliSpal pic.twitter.com/HqN5dpz6Np
— delinquentweet (@delinquentweet) February 18, 2018
Upon review, Hamsik was ruled offside and the goal was taken off him.
And to add insult to injury, the referee took issue with the 30-year-old’s challenge on the corner flag and showed Hamsik a yellow card.
Not the best afternoon for poor ol’ Marek.
