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VAR did not check a potential Kevin De Bruyne offside in the build-up to Manchester City’s opening goal on Tuesday, despite subsequent analysis appearing to show he was off.

LONDON, ENGLAND: Guglielmo Vicario of Tottenham Hotspur fails to save a cross from Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City (not pictured) before Erling Haaland of Manchester City scores his team’s first goal during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 14, 2024. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Football insider Team News and Ticks reports that VAR Michael Salisbury and his assistant Scott Ledger didn’t check whether or not Kevin De Bruyne was offside in the build-up to Manchester City’s opening goal against Tottenham Hotspur.

De Bruyne received a pass from Bernardo Silva in the 51st minute of the match, with the scores tied at 0-0. The midfielder then squared for Erling Haaland, who tapped into an open goal.

But even though De Bruyne was right on the edge of the Spurs defensive line, it seems the VAR officials opted against checking the decision to call him onside.

LONDON, ENGLAND: Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City is challenged by Radu Dragusin of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 14, 2024. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Analysis of the decision by Football Offsides appears to show that De Bruyne was marginally offside as Silva played the ball, with his shoulder ahead of Cristian Romero’s.

Other angles have emerged from fan footage (seen below), also seeming to show De Bruyne just marginally offside.

Kevin De Bruyne appears to lean offside in a screenshot of fan footage from Manchester City’s visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

There’s no guarantee that the goal would have been ruled out even if it had been checked, and even if the analysis by Football Offsides is accurate.

The current guidelines on VAR offside checks allow for a small margin of error, and they don’t overturn decisions when the lines they draw are touching.

But we’ll never know whether the VAR offside lines would have been that close together, because they didn’t draw them.

Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta reacts from the sidelines during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg football match between FC Bayern Munich and Arsenal FC in Munich, southern Germany on April 17, 2024. (Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Semi-automated offside technology is currently set to be in place for next season, eliminating the need for the officials to manually draw the lines. The system will automatically check all potential offsides and flag them up.

Yet there are no guarantees that the introduction of semi-automated offsides will go ahead if VAR is scrapped, with Wolves proposing a vote to remove the decision review system at the Annual General Meeting on June 6th.