UEFA have issued a statement regarding the controversial penalty decision reviewed by VAR and then awarded by referee Damir Skomina which see Manchester United knock Paris Saint-Germain out in Champions League Round of 16.
During the game, Diogo Dalot's long-range strike hit the arm of Presnel Kimpembe in the box and, following a VAR review, a contentious penalty was given, with Marcus Rashford smashing his kick beyond Gianluigi Buffon which send Manchester United into the competition's last eight.
The decision sparks controversy and UEFA have now responded to provide additional information and elements that were taken into consideration by the VAR and referees in reaching various decisions.
The statement reads:
The VAR, after checking various different angles available to him, recommended to the referee an on-field review following the penalty area incident.
Given that the referee did not recognise the incident clearly during live play (referred to as serious missed incident in the VAR protocol) an on-field review was conducted.
Following the on-field review, the referee confirmed that the distance that the ball travelled was not short and the impact could therefore not be unexpected. The defender’s arm was not close to the body, which made the defender’s body bigger thus resulting in the ball being stopped from travelling in the direction of the goal. The referee, therefore, awarded a penalty kick.
All the above-mentioned decisions were made in full compliance with the VAR protocol.
Nigeria32207
206
for all the people who don't want to be objective, in spite of the video replays and are busy saying all manner of ridiculous things, it's a pity you're a football fan. It was clearly a handball. And for those asking how can a player jump without arm movements, I wonder if you watch football. free kick scenarios are perfect examples. The players deliberately keep their hands to their sides when jumping. Of course the arms would move a little but Kimpembe' case was clear that he deliberately made his body bigger by spreading his hands. Please let's stop being stupid and hateful because we don't support a club and become blind to obvious facts.
Kaungu92
177
I am a Liverpool fan but truth be told it was a clear handball it's good for the football world cause the so called spoiled rich kid clubs are ruining football Manchester United together with your fans I salute you
Suybpru
142
Football Fan876
57
I really feel bad that PSG got knocked out, especially since they dominated the game, but it was a hand ball. The only problem i have is i don't understand why penalty kicks are not given whenever the same thing happened with other teams. Sometimes it seems like tge referees, even with VAR, are not allowed to award pk against some teams. Likewise legal goals are waved offside while clear offside goals are given. It's ridiculous. OnTeams are even getting 2 & 3 offside goals in a single match. Anyway i wish VAR was around for the past 5 seasons because a lot of the blatant cheating wouldnt have happened.