The AZ Alkmaar players celebrated wildly, as did the fans in the stadium who joined in. A 94th minute winner in a cup semi-final is perhaps the most unbridled joy you’ll ever feel. Until it gets disallowed, that is.

In the Dutch Cup semi-final between AZ and Cambuur, that’s exactly what happened. As the AZ players celebrated, the referee was busy talking to his video assistant referee who had spotted a foul. One of the AZ attackers had pushed the Cambuur goalkeeper. No goal. No celebrations. Free kick.

In December, the Club World Cup in Japan saw the introduction of video refereeing in top-level competitive games, after lower divisions in the US had trialled it previously. This time, in the Netherlands, not only has it been used in a cup semi-final, but it has had a huge impact on the game in the most conspicuous of ways.

The disallowed goal would have won the game for AZ, instead they had to go to extra time and penalties, though they did finally win the game and will compete in the final.

The controversy is lessened because of the eventual outcome and the fact that the decision won’t prevent the team from competing in the final. But it’s interesting that there is controversy at all: in the end, replays show that there was a clear foul and that the video referee’s decision was correct. It’s also true that there was no particularly large stoppage in proceedings while the referee made the decision: though it did cut short the wild celebrations in what is sure to be an anticlimactic fashion.

Surely, though, getting to the right decision in a cup semi-final is more important than letting a football team (wrongly) celebrate their goal?