James Maddison scored a brilliant winner to help Leicester City come from behind and defeat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday in a match dominated by VAR drama.
The Video Assistant Referee was heavily involved early on after Wilfred Ndidi had bundled the ball into the net, only for the effort to be ruled out for offside.
There was no question over the opening goal in the 29th minute as Harry Kane finished superbly past Kasper Schmeichel to give Spurs the lead.
Serge Aurier thought he had doubled the visitors’ advantage only for VAR to intervene again, much to the home fans’ delight, with Son Heung-min adjudged offside in the build-up.
That proved crucial as Ricardo Pereira levelled things up in the 69th minute from 12 yards, swinging the momentum in the home side’s favour.
Maddison completed the turnaround with a superb strike from 25 yards five minutes from time, drilling the ball past the despairing dive of Spurs goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga.
The victory moves Leicester up to provisional second in the table.
“If we score the second, the game is over,” Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino said. “It gives belief to a team that could have been dead.
“It is true to concede two goals every game makes it difficult to win.”
There was a reshuffle in the Spurs ranks for their trip north, with Hugo Lloris absent from squad after his wife had given birth to their third child.
Dele Alli was also absent.
As a result of the changes, Spurs looked sluggish from the off, with Harvey Barnes going close in the first minute.
Gazzaniga then spilled an effort from Youri Tielemans and Ndidi pounced, wheeled away to celebrate, but the referee, after a short delay, gave an offside to deny the hosts.
The home fans’ fury was compounded as Kane, despite being totally off balance after forcing his way into the box, somehow hooked the ball into the net.
It was the England captain’s 13th career goal in 12 starts against Leicester.
Jamie Vardy came close to an equaliser early in the second half, before Aurier scored what he thought was his first goal since January for Spurs.
The effort was again checked by the VAR, who ruled that Son was offside. Replays showed the decision was marginal.
“It’s what happens with VAR, you have to get your head round it,” Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers said.
“It works for you and against you. Worked both ways for us today.”
Pereira arrived right on cue three minutes later to convert Vardy’s low cross to equalise.
At the death, Maddison got the ball out of his feet to fire in the winner, sending the King Power into raptures.
