In the 86th minute, when Belgium was still trailing Slovakia 1-0, striker Romelo Lukaku celebrated his goal enthusiastically after a close-range shot past goalkeeper Dubravka.

On the sidelines, Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco also ran along the touchline to celebrate wildly after seeing Slovakia's net shake.

However, the joy of the Belgian players was short-lived when referee Umut Meler received a signal from the VAR room to run to the sideline to review the VAR screen before deciding to deny Lukaku's goal.

Accordingly, VAR technology determined that there was a mistake in allowing the ball to touch the hand of substitute player Lois Openda before assisting Lukaku to score. It is worth mentioning that to make the above decision, the referee was supported by a technology that has never appeared in football history, called the snickometer.

"The Snicko feature (short for snickometer) helps referees determine the impact of handball on the ball's flight and decide whether or not to disallow a goal," The Sun said about why the referee disallowed Lukaku's goal.

The official match ball for Euro 2024, made by Adidas, has a motion-sensing microchip that can track every touch at a rate of 500 times per second. The system detected that Openda's hand had indeed made contact with the ball, despite the very small impact.

Notably, Lukaku was not only unlucky in the above situation, but in the 55th minute, the Belgian striker also had a goal disallowed due to an offside error. This was a match in which Lukaku was considered a "sinner" for missing 3 good opportunities in front of the Slovakian goal, in addition, he was also unlucky when he had two goals disallowed.

Meanwhile, talking about the situation where Lukaku was denied a goal due to the new technology, former Premier League striker Chris Sutton said the referee's decision was a big mistake: "It's ridiculous, it really is.

Openda didn't mean to put the ball in his path. That's harsh. In the Premier League that goal would have been allowed."

However, Christina Unkel, a refereeing expert at the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), explained: "The interpretation of handball has recently changed. It will be considered a deliberate foul because the arm is close to shoulder level, the arm is extended and the touch helps control the ball.

We've previously reported on how fans at home watching Euro 2024 would benefit from a cricket equivalent of a 'speedometer' this summer, and this is a prime example.

With a shocking loss to Slovakia, Belgium must win their final two matches against Ukraine and Romania to secure a ticket to the round of 16 of Euro 2024.