Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk was at the centre of Var controversy as Ukrɑine were denied automatic qualification to the European Championship in a dramatic finale against Italy in Leverkusen.

Mudryk, the £88.5million signing earlier this year, looked to have been tripped in the penalty by Bryan Cristante in the 93rd minute at BayArena in the winner-takes-all clash where the victory secured a place at the Euro finals next year.

With the game poised at 0-0, Spanish referee Jesús Gil Manzano waved play on after seeing the incident and his decision was not overturned by the video assistant referee overseeing the game.

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It led to furious protests on the Ukrɑine bench, led by manager Sergei Rebrov and Arsenal full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko, who believed Mudryk had his ankle caught by Cristante as he drove towards goal after getting on the end of Oleksandr Zubkov’s cross from the right.

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Italy finished second in Group C when the game ended goalless in the final two minutes of stoppage time, while England already guaranteed a top spot ahead of the final round of matches before the draw in Hamburg the following week.

Ukrɑine will still be able to get to the finals in the summer, but first they must go through the play-offs, which will include matches in March. Italy, who lost to England both at home and away, ended with 14 points, placing them in Pot 3 for the draw.

Zinchenko will return to Arsenal to prepare for this weekend’s match but he will certainly be a bit unhappy