Manchester United defender Luke Shaw has revealed that referee Stuart Attwell conceded that Callum Hudson-Odoi’s handball was a penalty.
Shaw reacted in a furious manner after Attwell decided not to award a spot-kick during their goalless draw with Chelsea on Sunday evening.
The Chelsea star touched the ball with his hand in the penalty area while fighting with United’s Mason Greenwood for possession during the first half of the clash.
But, after consulting with VAR, Attwell ruled that the contact was not grounds for a penalty, to the surprise of the Red devils. Shaw has now claimed Harry Maguire was told it should have been given.
“If it’s not going to be a penalty, l don’t think they needed to stop the game,” he said to Sky Sports after the game.
“The ref even said to [Harry Maguire] that if I say it is a penalty, then it is going to cause a lot of talks afterwards. He got told it was a penalty. “I’m not going to moan about it because l don’t think either team did enough to win.”
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer backed up Shaw’s claims about the referee and insisted his side had been denied a penalty.
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Asked if there was any doubt it was a spot-kick, Solskjaer said: ‘No. Not whatsoever. Not at all. Especially when they stop it and he walks across so he can watch it.
‘From here you can see it’s a handball but you think it’s our player that does it, and they’re [Chelsea’s players] shouting for handball for our player. And when you look at it on the video, it’s taken two points away from us.’
When asked what the referee told Maguire, Solskjaer added: ‘I can’t say because that’s not going to be good for him.’
When Shaw’s comments were put to him, he responded: ‘Exactly – but I didn’t say it. I don’t want to cause controversy. But it’s not right is it.’
