It was always a tense and incredibly close UEFA Europa League round of 16 as Freiburg and West Ham jersey struggled at the Europa-Park Stadium. The hosts finally managed to score what turned out to be the winning goal in the 81st minute, but then a huge controversy ensued when the referee decided not to award a VAR penalty to the visitors, as fans and players had expected.

Freiburg take a lead into the UEFA Europa League round of 16 second leg against West Ham after surviving a last-minute VAR penalty appeal from the Premier League side.

The Bundesliga side didn’t look like scoring for most of the game, but the Hammers switched off in the 81st minute, allowing Roland Sallai the space to turn the ball towards goal and substitute Michael Gregoritsch to dot the ball home.

There weren’t many scoring chances during the match, but West Ham jersey looked more dominant as the game progressed, and Noah Atubolu football shirt had to pull out a great save for Jarrod Bowen in the second half.

The drama came five minutes into injury time when Noah Weisshaupt inadvertently committed a free kick in the box.

He had his hand above his head when Tomas Soucek sent a ball into his path and the referee expected a penalty when he looked at the video screen on the touchline, but instead he decided not to award a penalty.

The Hammers face Freiburg in the return leg next week.

Talking Point – The referee’s decision is understandable, but not in line with the trend

The match as a whole is not particularly worth reflecting on, West Ham seemed to have the game at their mercy and the Bundesliga side posed very little threat in the second half until the goal came. In the sense that the Hammers didn’t go for the win when it looked like they could take it, they will feel responsible for the result. But that is likely to be trumped by anger at the penalty decision. There would have been sympathy for Noah Weisshaupt, who had no intention of handling the ball and didn’t even see it before it hit his arm, but any spectator who saw the referee walk up to the video screen expected a penalty to be awarded.

When VAR was first introduced, this decision would likely have led to a big debate about whether a kick should be awarded in this scenario, but even the home side seemed to have settled on it being awarded due to the many penalty kicks that have been awarded in similar circumstances in the last five years. It is possible, as Steve Sidwell suggested, that the kick was not awarded due to a push from Tomas Soucek on Weisshaupt, which might make the decision a little easier to understand.

Player of the match – Noah Atubolu (Freiburg)

There were no standout players on either team, but the home side’s goalkeeper was solid throughout. If he hadn’t stretched to tip away Bowen’s shot midway through the second half, his team would likely be travelling to London next week with hopes that are faint at best.