Man Utd fans reacted sharply when the home team was not awarded a penalty when Southampton’s Armel Bella-Kotchap touched his hand in the penalty area.
In the match in the 27th round of the Premier League, Man Utd drew hard with a score of 0-0 against Southampton. This is a match where the Red Devils have only played with 10 men since the 34th minute when Casemiro received a red card. After this draw, Man Utd is still ranked third on the table with 50 points after 26 matches, 16 points behind the leader Arsenal (Man Utd played less than one match).
Defender Armel Bella-Kotchap seems to use his hand to play in the penalty area.
This makes Man Utd more and more distant from the hope of winning the Premier League. After the game, the club’s fans reacted harshly to the referee when he denied the penalty to the Red Devils.
The situation took place in the 43rd minute of the game, From Marcus Rashford’s left wing cross, Southampton defender Armel Bella-Kotchap leaned down to receive the ball, preventing Weghorst from approaching. Man Utd players think the ball has touched the Southampton defender’s hand.
Referee Anthony Taylor signaled for play to continue. Soon after, VAR stepped in but did not think that Man Utd deserved the penalty.
After the match, many Man Utd fans strongly protested on Twitter. Here are some typical comments:
“Hello Specsavers (a chain of optometrists in the UK), I would like to introduce you to a new client, Anthony Taylor.”
Casemiro’s red card puts Man Utd in a difficult position (Image: Getty).
“If this was the situation Man Utd players handled in the box, perhaps Anthony Taylor would have blown the penalty without hesitation.”
“I still don’t understand why it’s not a penalty? We have received very few penalties this season.”
“Obviously it was a situation where the Southampton player used his hand to stop Weghorst from scoring. Why didn’t VAR intervene?”.
“Is this football or handball?”.
In addition to not being able to win against Southampton, Man Utd also suffered a great loss when Casemiro will be suspended for 4 matches because of a red card. The reason is that this is the second red card of the Brazilian player this season. He will miss the matches against Newcastle, Brentford, Everton and Nottingham Forest.
