Pranav Nair
Manchester United fans livid as the club is denied a rightful penalty in the draw against Chelsea
The matchup between Manchester United and Chelsea lacked the expected intensity and ended in a rather tame 0-0 draw. With Manchester City pulling away, it is fair to say we need a miracle to pip them to the Premier League summit.
The critical point of the game came when Chelsea ace Callum Hudson-Odoi appeared to handle the ball from a Marcus Rashford free-kick .
Referee Stuart Atwell was instructed by VAR to take a look at the incident. He did so and decided there wasn’t enough cause for a spot-kick to be awarded.
The decision sparked outrage among fans on social media. Penalties had been given in recent times for the trivial of matters but yesterday’s incident clearly had its merits.
The Premier League clarified post-match that the penalty was not awarded in lieu of contact being ball to hand and not the other way around. While the implementation of VAR is necessary, the lack of consistency in its interpretation continues to be a problem.
Any clarification would have done little to assuage the anger of fans who witnessed the incident play out. We take a look at a few of them below.
United fans react as Callum Hudson-Odoi gets away with a handball
Twice against Chelsea @ManUtd were denied rightful penalty. Yet people cry that we are favoured
— Ashir Sheth (@AshirSheth) February 28, 2021
That was handball.. shouldve had a penalty kick
— Chris Gerner (@gerner_chris) February 28, 2021
If this had happened up the other end Chelsea would’ve been given a penalty….
— MUFC (@J45_MUFC) February 28, 2021
Referee told by VAR to give Manchester United a penalty against Chelsea. He refuses. He now needs to explain his decision.
— Ron Delnevo (@RonCashman) February 28, 2021
So many bad VAR decisions have gone against Manchester United recently such as Anthony Martial wrongly ruled against Sheffield United West Brom’s goal against us The penalty that should’ve been awarded today against Chelsea so many unfair points dropped
— Mark Grigg 11 (@markgrigg123) February 28, 2021
— Violent Kisser ii🇬🇭🇳🇬 (@uhnkel_jhayy) February 28, 2021
we demand answers. game was altered because of some bullshit mentality from the ref. thats hot garbage.
— earthling (@solar_puffs) February 28, 2021
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This is a match fixing allegation. If it’s true the ref should just be fired. No other punishment can fit this incompetence.
— 00 ⚫🟡 (@ralfzii) February 28, 2021
Refereeing in the PL is at crisis point. That handball by Hudson Odoi was a penalty under any interpretation and should have been given. Referees are scared to make decisions for fear of criticism and ridicule. The only way out of this is to bin off VAR and go back to how it was
— Julian Kear (@julianholigan) February 28, 2021
