VAR's most outrageous moments: Man Utd, Alisson and Tottenham feature

This week marks five years since the very first time the video assistant referee system was used in football.

Love it or loathe it – and you probably loathe it – we might as well all accept the fact that VAR is here to stay. Once you introduce this kind of technology, it’s very difficult to go back and pretend like it never happened.

One thing’s for sure, though, it’s all been a bit messy and to say it hasn’t gone to plan would be quite the understatement, given the sheer amount of chaos and burst blood vessels it has caused over the years.

Our friends at ESPN seem to agree, so on its five-year anniversary they decided to take a look back at the wildest, most bonkers moments in VAR history.

We’ve compiled some of the best bits in this list below:

Having already chosen to disallow an Erik Lamela goal after a lengthy review, VAR took centre stage yet again when Kieran Trippier was pulled down for a free-kick on the edge of the Rochdale box. Well, it was a free-kick until Paul Tierney was told to consult VAR, he then upgraded it to a penalty after minutes of deliberation that left baffled fans wondering what on earth was going on.

Son Heung-min converted the spot kick and ran off to celebrate, only for Tierney to pull him back after deciding that he came to a total stop before kicking the ball. A free-kick was awarded to Rochdale and bemused fans never understood what had gone on until they left the ground that evening. Madness.

VAR was at it again in the Bundesliga, when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty during the half-time break after consulting the monitor and deciding there had been a hand-ball offence in the area.

He recalled all players to the field and Pablo de Blasis stepped up to convert from 12-yards.