Aniket Rai
PGMOL explain decision to rule out Edinson Cavani goal for Manchester United against Tottenham
In a statement released to Sky Sports (h/t Metro), The Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOL) defended the decision to deny Manchester United and Edinson Cavani an opening goal against Tottenham Hotspur.
The Uruguayan striker was found by a brilliant Paul Pogba pass to open the scoring in the 30th minute. But much to United’s dismay, the goal was ruled out by referee Chris Kavanagh after consulting VAR.
The referee consulted the pitch-side monitor and conducted a lengthy inspection. And he cancelled out the goal because of Scott McTominay fouling Son Heung-min in the build-up.
The South Korean’s exaggerated dive could have made the incident look more serious than it really was. But in their statement, PGMOL backed the referee’s decision to rule out the opening goal of the match from Cavani.
“It wasn’t part of McTominay’s natural running movement and it was careless.”
Justice served
Son then went on to score the opening goal of the game in the 40th minute. But United’s ruled-out goal continued to baffle pundits, with Micah Richards calling it a ‘ridiculous’ decision by the referees.
“This is not football any more… this is spoiling our game. Ican’t recognise the game any more. If this is a foul, Roy [Keane’s] right, we might as well all go home now. It’s an absolutely ridiculous decision.”
But justice was served when United scored 12 minutes after half-time and went on to win 3-1 on the night. The result inflicted more misery upon ex-United boss, Jose Mourinho, whose side are now 6 points away from 4th spot.
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As for United, their good run continues. Solskjaer’s next task is guiding his team to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals as they take on Granada on Thursday night in the second leg of their last-8 tie.
