Leandro Trossard at centre of 'VAR failure' in Belgium vs Iran 'red card' controversy - Keith Hackett

VAR should have sent referee Dario Herrera to the screen after a dangerous challenge on Leandro Trossard during Belgium's draw against Iran.

That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that the Arsenal attacker was on the wrong end of "serious foul play" on Sunday, 21 June.

The challenge came from former Brighton winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh just minutes into the second half, leaving Trossard is a lot of pain next to the touchline.

Not even a yellow card was produced for the Iran attacker, which became even more astonishing after images emerged of the Belgian star's calf and ripped sock.

Trossard managed to complete the full 90 minutes, made even more impressive by teammate Nathan Ngoy being sent off in the 66th minute, but even so, it was an awful challenge.

Some have argued that it was nothing more than a cautionable offence, having scraped his opponent's calf, but Hackett could not be any clearer about a red card being shown.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former FIFA referee condemned the challenge, while blaming VAR for the missed red card.

"It's serious foul play. He should have gone. I can understand the referee not making the decision, but this is why we've got VAR," he said.

"Sometimes when you're refereeing, you can be too close and you've then got to split: which part are you looking at? Upper body or down below?

"Often, because you're too close, you're not seeing the full body of the players, and as a result, you're looking at the ground, looking for a foul, and upstairs, he's done something else.

"To referees, proximity is important but also giving yourself the view of the whole body. So, I think this is a failure by VAR rather than the referee."

A serious injury to Trossard certainly wouldn't have been ideal, especially with both Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice managing their fitness over the summer.

Jurrien Timber is yet to return from his injury, but he was on the bench for the Netherlands' 2-1 friendly win over Uzbekistan before the World Cup kicked off.

On more positive notes, Viktor Gyokeres has a goal and assist in two matches, while Kai Havertz also notched a brace against Curacao.

Unsurprisingly, defensive trio William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Piero Hincapie are all starring for their nations, though David Raya has had to watch on from the Spain bench.