'That's staggering' - Chris Sutton and Alan Shearer can't believe what happened during Tottenham vs Villarreal

Pundits can’t believe one of the refereeing decisions that was made in Tottenham’s nervy Champions League win over Villarreal. Spurs won the game thanks to a huge goalkeeping error from Yellow Submarine goalkeeper Luiz Junior in the fourth minute that led to an own goal.

Both teams had a chance or two, but the game was otherwise a very even and well-contested one that, had it been a draw, both sides would have felt fairly done by. But Tottenham found a way to come away with three points in their first Champions League outing of the season, and the nature of the win will make those points feel that much more valuable.

Though, Spurs can count themselves lucky that Micky van de Ven was not send off for bashing over Georges Mikautadze. The Georgian striker got behind the Tottenham back line and looked to be through on goal only for Van de Ven to bundle him over from behind right outside the box.

With the foul being committed outside the box and with the striker clearly the last man, it was a red card by the letter of the law, but a yellow card was awarded on the pitch, and the VAR did not overturn it upon review.

BBC Sport pundit Chris Sutton couldn’t believe his eyes, commenting: “The foul is outside the penalty area and if so, surely that is a red card for Van de Ven? That is very odd that it's been awarded as a yellow That's a staggering call. It's a denial of a goal scoring opportunity.”

Alan Shearer also believed Tottenham got away with one, adding: “Tottenham have gotten away with it, for now. That summed up their second half. Very sloppy.” Nicolas Pepe missed the resulting free-kick and Tottenham narrowly held on to the three points. Thomas Frank won’t care about the decision, and nor should he.

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