Ugly scenes marred the end of Tuesday’s AFC Champions League Elite semifinal between Machida Zelvia of Japan and United Arab Emirates’ Shabab Al Ahli — and it was perhaps understandable why the latter were infuriated by the manner in which they had just been eliminated from Asian football’s premier club competition.

Shabab Al Ahli’s hopes of becoming champions of Asia had just come to an end in the penultimate stage of the tournament with a 1-0 loss, but they were adamant that tie should have been headed for extra-time after their 92nd-minute equaliser was disallowed.

The U.A.E side immediately remonstrated with referee Shaun Evans. Then once more at the final whistle, where the Australian official eventually required a police escort off the field as he was surrounded by a mob of seething Shabab Al Ahli players.

Peculiarly, and perhaps for the first time ever, it was a substitution that led to VAR intervention which prompted Evans to overturn his original decision of letting Guilherme Bala‘s brilliant solo effort stand.

So, what exactly caused the controversy?

After Machida had seemingly made their fifth and final substitution of the tie, they immediately started making appeals to Evans the moment Shabab Al Ahli restarted play from a throw-in — although the reason behind those were initially unclear.

Shabab Al Ahli worked the way from one flank to the other, where Bala embarked on a dazzling 40-yard run and proceeded to skip inside two opponents before unleashing an unstoppable effort in the far corner.

It sparked wild scenes of celebration in the Shabab Al Ahli camp but, almost immediately, Machida continued their pleas to Evans.

And when VAR — upon conducting its mandatory check — called Evans to the pitch-side monitor, things became clearer.

As Machida’s Hotaka Nakamura was still on the field of play, briefly exchanging words with the man who was about to replace him in Henry Heroki Mochizuki, Shabab Al Ahli defender Kauan Santos had already thrown the ball back into play.

It then goes down to the minute details. Nakamura was as good as off the field with one foot almost on the touchline. Barely a second later, Mochizuki was charging onto the pitch.

It initially appeared that Evans had not sensed anything was amiss because of such a fine margin. And the rules are the rules.

Machida will defend the decision by arguing they were — quite blatantly — unprepared for the restart, especially considering he was replacing Nakamura at right-wingback — down the exact side where Bala produced his moment of magic.

Still, even if it had been a legal restart, he probably might not have made it to his designated position considering he had the entire width of the field to cover. Indeed, when Bala’s shot hit the back of the net, Mochizuki had only made it as far as the middle of the box — filling in the central role that was vacated by captain Gen Shoji‘s own covering of the aforementioned void down the right.

Obviously, teams are not obliged to wait till their opponents are completely ready — and in their designated positions — after substitutions. In the grand scheme of things, Bala would probably still have scored even if Shabab Al Ahli had waited that extra second before restarting play. The fact of the matter is they didn’t.

But here’s where it gets even more intriguing. Evans’ whistle could be heard being blown, calling for play to be restarted. Whether or not it came before or after Santos’ throw-in is — again — so marginal that it is a difficult to determine in real-time.

This bit is purely conjecture but, at the juncture of the game when teams are often suspected of bringing on players to take time of the clock, and with Machida taking a bit of time to complete their substitution, he may have — in an attempt to force the Japanese team to get on with the game — called for Shabab Al Ahli to continue proceedings.

So, when VAR decided that there was a serious missed incident that warranted an on-field review, it is quite possible that it was one that had actually been instigated by Evans himself. Even then, if he had decided to restart play prematurely because Machida were wasting time, then wouldn’t he have been well within his rights to stick by his original decision?

After all, there is no law in the game that decrees both teams must have 11 players on the pitch for the game to go on. Even discounting the scenario of sending-offs, numerical discrepancies are commonplace when players require medical treatment off the field.

Expectedly, Shabab Al Ahli coach Paulo Sousa — who vacated his dugout for the remainder of the contest after the disallowed goal — was indignant after the game.

“There was a goal that was scored and then it was cancelled — this is a very technical mistake by ⁠the referee,” said Sousa. “Unfortunately, this is what is turning football into rubble. It was a big mistake to choose this referee for this match.

“What saddens me is the organisation [the Asian Football Confederation] choosing referees who aren’t up to the quality of this tournament, these players, and the coaches present.”

“We deserved to be in the final and we deserve to play this important game.”

Of course, nothing can now change the outcome of the contest. It is Machida who are moving on to Saturday’s decider — a story in itself considering this is their tournament debut and they were still in the second tier of Japanese football as recently as in 2023.

Nonetheless, Shabab Al Ahli are well within their rights to be aggrieved that they did not at least have extra-time, or even penalties, to pull off a victory of their own.

Not for the first time, VAR has courted controversy. But perhaps for the first time, over a substitution.

LOS ANGELES — The Houston Rockets had Kevin Durant back for Game 2 of their first-round matchup Tuesday. So the Lakers had Marcus Smart guard him in their 101-94 win to take a 2-0 series lead.

“It was good for them to have KD out there for them,” Smart said, “and it was good for us to be able to do what we did tonight against him.”

Durant returned from a right knee injury that kept him out of Game 1 to score 23 points on 7-for-12 shooting — but shot just 1-for-3 and committed three of his playoff career-worst nine turnovers in the 18 possessions he was defended by Smart, according to ESPN Research.

“He’s not afraid of the moment,” said LeBron James, who led L.A. with 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. “He’s always been assigned some of the best players that [have] ever played this game in his career. So, to have someone like that it just brings a lot of composure to our team.

“Especially when we’re missing — I hate to beat a dead horse, but it’s two big horses — with AR [Austin Reaves] and Luka [Doncic] out. So, to have that, it means a lot to our ballclub.”

As effective as Smart was defensively, grabbing five steals, he was equally important on offense, scoring 25 points on 8-for-13 shooting (5-for-7 from 3) with seven assists.

“Smart, he just had a killer game today,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.

The veteran guard, signed to a two-year, $11 million contract in the offseason after being recruited to L.A. by Doncic, was great from the start of Game 2, scoring 14 of his points in the first quarter.

“He set the tone for us, got us going,” said Luke Kennard, who followed up 27 points in Game 1 with 23 in Game 2. “And we know with those guys out, it could be anybody on any given night right now.”

Houston, which was held below 100 points for the second straight game and shot just 40.4%, cut what was once a 15-point lead by the Lakers to just five with under three minutes remaining.

Which was when Smart, fittingly, hit his fifth 3 of the night to put the Lakers back up by eight with 2:23 to go and give them some breathing room.

“He hit a big one,” Redick said.

While Redick said before the game that Reaves had started his return to play progression, confirming ESPN’s Shams Charania’s report that he began on-court one-on-one workouts as he continues to rehabilitate from a Grade 2 oblique strain that’s kept him out since April 2, the coach did not provide an updated timeline on when Reaves could be back in the lineup.

Redick added that Doncic had yet to begin his return to play progression from the Grade 2 left hamstring strain that’s also sidelined him since April 2 and provided no timetable update on the Slovenian star, either.

In other words, as the series shifts to Houston for Game 3 on Friday, Smart will still be as important as ever.

“I can look at him, and he knows what the hell I’m talking about,” said James, who revealed that his viral meme moment from Game 1 was him making eye contact with none other than Smart to get his attention from across the court. “He can relate to me.”

And Redick said that the team can relate to Smart’s will to win.

“Because he has the voice he has, he can help create the belief and the confidence in our group,” Redick said. “And I think he’s done that.”

For Smart, who was named the Defensive Player of the Year for the 2021-22 season before helping the Boston Celtics make it to the 2022 NBA Finals before two injury-riddled seasons in Memphis and Washington, Game 2 served as a reminder of his capabilities.

“I’m very grateful to be doing this,” Smart said. “I thank God every day, because I could have been out the league, right? Injuries and things like that. So, to be able to be back on this stage again, making the plays that I’m making with these guys, with this team, this organization, I’m just grateful.”

When Sir Alex Ferguson left Manchester United in 2013, he did so with a Premier League winners’ medal around his neck. The downside was that he squeezed every last bit out of an aging team and the handover to his successor David Moyes was a traumatic one from which United have never really recovered.

Jurgen Klopp didn’t leave Liverpool as a champion when he departed Anfield two years ago, but he did pass Arne Slot a squad in decent shape — evidenced by their title win 12 months after his exit.

And when Arsène Wenger called it quits at Arsenal in 2018, he left behind neither the Premier League trophy nor the players to achieve it. Major surgery has been required from Mikel Arteta to restore them as genuine contenders.

It’s clear that moving on from a manager who has been in position for a long time can be complicated.

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Manchester City might be about to go through the same thing as United, Liverpool and Arsenal, with doubts about whether Pep Guardiola will still be in charge in August. But if he does go, he’s in something of a unique position in the Premier League era when it comes to possibly signing off with a title and leaving behind a squad which — in theory — is only going to get better.

While still unconfirmed, there’s a growing feeling around City that Guardiola, 55, will leave at the end of the season. He is under contract until June 2027, but there was surprise at the time that the extension he signed in November 2024 was for two years rather than just one.

There will be very little shock if he doesn’t see out the final year.

There’s unlikely to be any kind of formal announcement while City are still in contention to win trophies; Guardiola has always looked to minimize distractions as much as possible.

Victory over Arsenal on Sunday has narrowed the gap in the title race to three points with five games to go — plus City have a game in hand — and with an FA Cup semifinal against Championship side Southampton to come on Saturday, there’s still the possibility of sealing a domestic treble after their success over the Gunners in the Carabao Cup in March.

Not even Ferguson went out like that.

Ferguson also left United with the club on the brink of a difficult transition. His title success in 2012-13 was achieved with a squad overly reliant on an older core of Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Robin van Persie. Only Carrick stayed on the playing staff beyond 2015.

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Giggs said recently on a podcast appearance with Ferdinand that: “Another sign of a good manager is the team he leaves behind.”

Ferguson’s successor, Moyes, made plenty of mistakes of his own, but his task was made more difficult because of the squad he inherited.

Guardiola has done it differently. He has overseen the departure of a number of experienced campaigners over the last 18 months including Éderson, Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gündogan and Kevin De Bruyne.

In their place, Guardiola has bedded in younger players like Marc Guéhi, Josko Gvardiol, Abdukodir Khusanov, Nico O’Reilly, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki.

The average age of the City squad this season is 26.1; the average age of the starting XI against Arsenal on Sunday was even lower, at 25.3.

Whether Guardiola stays or goes, there will be further investment in the squad this summer. But any money spent will be used to fill specific needs — a midfielder to replace the departing Bernardo Silva and possibly a right back — rather than making wholesale changes. The foundations of City’s next team are already in place.

Guardiola has said that City will be better next season. That has prompted some hope among fans that he might decide he wants to benefit from the improvement himself rather than hand the golden ticket to a successor — whether that’s his former assistant Enzo Maresca (who is currently out of work after leaving Chelsea) or someone else.

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He has shelved plans to leave before, most notably when he signed a second extension in November 2022, and one more crack at winning the UEFA Champions League might be tempting.

City have always been relaxed about Guardiola’s future, believing that their relationship is so strong that he would always factor in what’s best for the club as well as what works for him. It’s one of the reasons there were no internal concerns that he could leave last summer — despite a relatively poor season — because he knew a handover in a summer which included the FIFA Club World Cup would be difficult for the club to manage.

Whenever Guardiola decides to go, it will be a big blow for City.

The club have been molded around his vision since he arrived in 2016, and it’s paid off in the form of a bucketload of silverware. He could yet walk away as a champion while also leaving behind a team capable of adding more in the future.

And that is something not even Premier League greats like Ferguson, Klopp and Wenger were able to achieve.