Uefa defends VAR decisions in Manchester City's Champions League victory over Schalke

VAR was at the centre of controversy after two incidents saw the hosts awarded penalties, each scored by Nabil Bentaleb late in the first half

Uefa has defended the use of the Video Assistant Referee system in Manchester City's 3-2 Champions League win at Schalke on Wednesday by insisting "accuracy is more important than speed".

VAR was at the centre of controversy after two incidents saw the hosts awarded penalties, each scored by Nabil Bentaleb late in the first half as Schalke went from 1-0 down to 2-1 up.

The first was awarded for a handball by Nicolas Otamendi after a lengthy delay, after which it transpired referee Carlos Del Cerro Grande's pitchside monitor was broken.

The second came when Fernandinho was adjudged to have fouled Salif Sane, who it appeared was in an offside position at the time.

Uefa said in a statement on its website on Thursday that VAR protocol had been correctly applied in both cases.

It said a "technical issue experienced by the VAR technical supplier" had affected the ability to deliver replay images to the pitchside monitor, and that in such instances "IFAB (International Football Association Board) protocol allows for the VAR to describe to the referee what can be seen on the TV replay(s) but not tell him the decision that should be taken."

"The referee then makes a final decision based on his own perception and the information received orally from the VAR," the statement continued.

Uefa said of the first penalty incident: "The inability to access the incident replays at the pitchside review area led to a delay in reaching the correct decision to award a penalty kick for a handball offence, while the VAR orally described the situation to the referee to allow him to make a final decision, and for the referee to then provide an explanation to the two team captains to clarify the circumstances regarding the pitchside review area and the decision-making process."

It added: "The second decision was also correctly made on the basis of the Laws of the Game (Law 11 - Offside) which stipulates: 'If a player in an offside position is moving towards the ball with the intention of playing the ball and is fouled before playing or attempting to play the ball, or challenging an opponent for the ball, the foul is penalised as it has occurred before the offside offence'."

The statement was accompanied by two images of the Fernandinho-Sane incident that Uefa said "clearly show that a foul is committed inside the box before the Schalke player could even attempt to play the ball and hence such an offence must be punished with the awarding of a penalty kick."

Uefa’s chief refereeing officer Roberto Rosetti said: "I am pleased that even without the possibility for the referee to review the incidents with his own eyes, the excellent cooperation of the team of officials led to correct decisions being made.

City's win was marred by controversy (Reuters)

"It must also be underlined that - and as is described in the VAR protocol - accuracy is always in principle more important than speed when reaching a decision.

"Clearly, last night's technical issues had a big impact on the time taken to reach decisions, but we are fully aware that reducing the time factor is key to the success of VAR and we are doing our utmost to make reviews as quick and efficient as possible.

"However, what we ultimately want is correct decisions in such match-changing situations and this is what we got yesterday."

Uefa also said it will be addressing the matter of the monitor problem with its VAR technical supplier to ensure that issue does not happen again.