Everton were denied a penalty in the Merseyside Derby due to a stunning new VAR angle.

The Toffees thought they had secured a dream start against rivals Liverpool on Wednesday night as Dominic Calvert-Lewin was brought down inside the box just six minutes in. The striker outwitted the Liverpool defence to latch on to a sumptuous pass from Jack Harrison.

And with just Alisson Becker to beat, the Reds keeper tripped up Calvert-Lewin. But the Goodison Park faithful’s wild celebrations were cut short by VAR, which deemed the striker to have been offside in the build-up to the foul.

The call took several minutes, with VAR requiring the help of several camera angles before reaching an offside decision. And viewers were stunned to witness one “never before seen” bird-eye view camera angle which made the decision seem far more straightforward than usual.

One X user wrote: “Wait. How on earth do they have this aerial VAR camera for Everton liverpool but they didn’t have it for the fa cup semi final or other big games? That’s crazy that view clears everything up.”

Another tweeted: “That was way more clear with that overhead camera than the ‘left 18’ one we saw on the first replay.” while a third pointed out: “On my life I’ve never seen VAR use that camera angle.”

Despite the cruel blow to the relegation-battling Toffees, they managed to take the lead in the 27th minute. Chaotic scenes in the Liverpool box saw the ball fall once more to Branthwaite, whose second attempt from close range squirmed underneath Alison, before being blasted in by Calvert-Lewin.

VAR once more stepped in to examine whether someone had been offside during the initial free-kick. But the referee’s decision to award the goal on that occasion sparked delirium among the home fans.