UEFA have released a statement defending the referee’s decision to award Manchester United their game-winning penalty against PSG on Wednesday.
There was so much drama surrounding that clash from the 90th minute onwards.
Man United needed one goal to go through when the referee gave an unexpected penalty in the 92nd minute.
Marcus Rashford stepped up and scored, sending Man United through and knocking PSG out.
Though, many disputed the decision, including Neymar who reacted very poorly to the penalty after the game.
Now, UEFA have responded to the referee’s decision
UEFA, in a statement released on Friday, have explained that there was enough travel time between the ball being struck and hitting Presnel Kimpembe’s hand for it not to be considered ‘unexpected’ contact.
Furthermore, ‘The defender’s arm was not close to the body, which made the defender’s body bigger’ resulting in a penalty.
“The VAR, after checking various different angles available to him, recommended to the referee an on-field review following the penalty area incident,” the statement read, as cited by the Mirror.
“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.