Chapter 865: Conceding a Goal? VAR!

Unfortunately, it was only he who knew what was going on here. As for the others, they still paid great attention to Marco Reus, and in return, they allowed Erling Haaland to escape from the blind spot.

Thud!

A through pass was sent, piercing the whole defense!

From the channel area, Erling Haaland, who seemed to be heavily guarded, suddenly managed to escape, controlling the ball straight in front of the goal.

Higo lowered his stance immediately, but with his clairvoyance ability getting disabled, the boy was in a blind right now, not knowing where the Norwegian giant would send the ball to.

’Left? Right? No, below!’

BAM!

Even without his ability playing a role here, Higo still managed to read the correct way. However, his reaction was too late, as even though he could still feel the ball hit his feet, it still bounced into the back of the net, giving Borussia Dortmund the goal that they had been waiting for.

"OH! YES, ERLING! THAT’S HOW YOU DO IT!"

"COME FUCKING ON!"

All the Dortmund supporters on the stand roared immediately, especially when they saw Erling Haaland jumping on the commercial board to come close and celebrate together with them.

Higo himself was so helpless right now. He was so ready to get mocked by the supporters after the euphoria was over, especially after his goal was finally breached by Dortmund’s side.

However, amidst the crazy enthusiasm of the home team, they didn’t notice that the linesman on the sideline had already raised the flag, and it took a while for them to realize that the goal itself was deemed offside.

"WHAT?! NO!" Haaland, with his thick accent, roared immediately, trying to approach the linesman. It was fortunate that Reus was still close enough to drag the boy back, or his fierce expression coupled with his giant body would be enough to intimidate the man. "HOW THE FUCK IS THAT AN OFFSIDE?! I WAS BEHIND THAT NUMBER 2!"

"Yes, man?! This is a fucking joke!" Someone joined the complaint, wanting to put more pressure on the linesman. "This is the third time you are siding with them today! Are you kidding me?!"

The referee himself was sweating bullets right now. Even he himself realized that things started to go out of control, especially since all the fifty-fifty decisions always favored the away team.

However, he also couldn’t be blamed, since it was always them who were guilty in the end.

Still, under Matt Hummels and Marco Reus’s pressure, he finally came to the sideline, deciding to check the VAR. Seeing this, all the supporters also started to feel dissatisfied, their theory about the referee siding with their rival getting stronger than ever.

"Shit! No wonder they could win against us!"

"Yeah, is he betting against us or what?!"

"This is such a fucking joke! No wonder the EPL is better than our Bundesliga!"

All the Schalke players themselves didn’t say anything else, just waiting for the final decision in such a quiet tension. They didn’t care about the commotion around them, inwardly praying that the decision wouldn’t stand here. Higo, especially, took a deep breath while turning his head around, not wanting to see the referee on the sideline.

Inwardly, he couldn’t help but mutter while still staring at the sky, "Kami-sama... Please, let it be offside..."

Fortunately, though, it seemed that God of Football was still siding with him.

From the footage on VAR, indeed, Erling Haaland and Benjamin Stambouli looked quite parallel. However, it was clear that the Norwegian striker had one foot ahead, and while it wasn’t that much, this alone was enough to warrant an offside decision for Dortmund.

FWEEE!

The referee finally blew the whistle again, and this time, he shook his head at Dortmund’s players, still pointing at the spot where Haaland executed the penalty earlier.

"VAR Decision! Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund is one step ahead of Benjamin Stambouli from Schalke 04! Offside!"

"YES!" Higo roared immediately, feeling a wave of relief wash over him. "COME ON!" He grinned widely, giving Stambouli a high-five. Right now, the boy couldn’t care less about the hostile supporters behind him, wanting nothing but to celebrate his escape from the death door.

"Good job, Benjy! Thank God that you are there!" Omar Mascarell also joined, laughing his ass off at the main character here.

Benjamin Stambouli himself just acted cool, but the grin on his face told everyone how excited he was right now. Even though it was just one step, his positioning was enough to save the team’s ass, and if somehow they managed to maintain the score until the end, he would become the greatest hero today.

Meanwhile, on Dortmund’s side, everyone was in disbelief right now. A hint of frustration mixed with annoyance could be seen on everyone’s face. After all, it wasn’t easy to break through Schalke’s goal, and yet, the moment they did it, everything was destroyed by one foot stepping too far?!

Was that a fucking joke?!

Even Erling Haaland himself kicked the grass in frustration, wanting nothing but to roar and curse the sky for his misfortune. That was his first ever chance to get so close to the goal today, and yet, it still didn’t get him the goal that he wanted.

Right now, he just stared at his right foot, one that was deemed offside, and cursed once again quite loudly. "Fucking right foot! Why does it have to be that long?!"

Unfortunately, no matter how annoyed they were, the result couldn’t be changed here. Any complaint had to be swallowed, especially since VAR had already reviewed everything from behind the scenes.

It was definitely one of the unspoken rules after the VAR arrived in the football world. Once an incident got reviewed with that, there should be no room to complain, as everyone could see in great detail what truly happened in that incident.

Still, now, all the Dortmund players started to ask, "With us being so unlucky, are we destined to lose against our rival today?!"