Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze saw a brilliant free-kick against Chelsea ruled out by VAR, leaving many fans in disbelief.
Eze sees free-kick ruled out by VARTeam-mate Marc Guehi at faultFans hit out at VAR decisionFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Eze thought he had given Crystal Palace the lead against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. The forward smashed a fierce free-kick past goalkeeper Robert Sanchez but it was chalked off after a VAR review. Defender Marc Guehi seemed to have been the guilty party as he was spotted pushing Moises Caicedo out of the way as the two stood in the wall. Referee Darren England was sent to the monitor to check and subsequently explained his decision to disallow the goal to the crowd. He said: “After review, away number six [Guehi] is less than one metre away from the wall as the shot is taken. Therefore, it's an indirect free kick and a disallowed goal”.
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The decision to disallow the goal did not go down well with many fans.
Supporter @tmzette posted on X: "Game couldn’t be more gone," while @TomaNUFC16 wrote: "Crystal Palace and Eze have been robbed there. Another season of corruption for teams outside the top 6 and another season of unbalanced VAR ahead."
And @reid_zer was also shocked, adding: "You’ll struggle to see a worse decision than that all season! Disgusting!"
The decision was also criticised by @CraigForsyth_ who posted: "That is a scandalous decision. Caicedo has to push back, he was moved far too easy."
And @Samltor asked: "Is that a disallowed Eze free kicks on the opening match for the second year in a row?"
WHAT THE PUNDITS SAID
Former Chelsea star Steve Sidwell told BBC Sport: "How many times have we seen that in the past where there's blocking? If that is the precedent set on the opening weekend it has to stay for the season."
Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR EZE?
Sunday's game could well be Eze's last for Crystal Palace. The forward has been linked with a move to Tottenham, with Palace already eyeing up Christos Tzolis and Bilal El Khannouss as potential replacements.