Tammy Abraham's disallowed equaliser: New Brentford footage shows ball did go out of play against Aston Villa
Aston Villa were controversially denied an equaliser by VAR in 1-0 defeat to Brentford; Tammy Abraham scored but VAR ruled ball had gone out of play 19 seconds beforehand; the Bees released footage on Monday afternoon that appeared to show the whole ball had gone out of play
Monday 2 February 2026 18:33, UK
Brentford have released footage that appears to show the ball did go out of play in the build-up to Tammy Abraham's equaliser for Aston Villa, before it was disallowed by VAR.
The four-second clip, posted on X on Monday afternoon, shows the ball cross the line before Leon Bailey hooks it back into play.
The post on Brentford's official account was accompanied by a caption referencing Law 9.1 of IFAB's Laws of the Game: "The ball is out of play when it has wholly passed over the goal line or touchline on the ground or in the air."
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Abraham thought he had marked his Villa return with an equaliser against Brentford in a game that Unai Emery's side went on to lose 1-0.
But a lengthy VAR review followed, eventually determining Bailey had carried the ball out of play 19 seconds before the goal was scored.
Referee Tim Robinson said the ball was "factually out of play" but, initially, there was a question as to whether there was conclusive footage to confirm it had crossed the line completely.
"I think it is not fair," Emery said after the game. "The referee is not watching it.
"Maybe there are a lot of actions and circumstances that can change a goal. I accept it completely. For me it is not fair, but I accept it."
Jamie Carragher said the evidence shown on air was conclusive and proved the ball had gone out of play. "It goes out of play, there is no doubt about that," he said on Super Sunday.
But former Villa man Ashley Young disagreed, claiming the benefit of the doubt should have gone to the attacking side given the lack of clear evidence.
He added: "I think you can say it goes out but categorically are they saying they can see that? No, they can't.
"It should go in favour of the forward."
Were Villa denied a goal by an optical illusion?
Speaking in the 2023/24 season, when Newcastle's Anthony Gordon had a goal given against Arsenal after a similar incident, Gary Neville dissected how a ball can appear to be out but actually remain in play.
Positioning it near the touchline, Neville demonstrated how one angle can show the ball touching the line and another, which would be used by VAR, could appear to show it out of play.
"That ball is in. The edge of the ball is touching the edge of the white line.
"When you see that from here, you think it is not a debate. When you cut to the different angles that the VAR had to look at [it changes].
"We are not trying to say the ball is in or the ball is out, we are trying to say VAR cannot make a decision to overturn the on-field decision.
"There is ambiguity; it is an optical illusion."
