There was widespread uncertainty as Stuart Attwell first signaled for a penalty following strong reactions from the visiting team at Old Trafford. ..Continue Reading
Before confirming the call, the referee consulted with his assistant.
VAR then intervened to analyze the situation and instructed Attwell to take another look at the footage. It was revealed that although the ball had hit Hume’s face, Sesko hadn’t made significant contact during the challenge, aside from a possible graze on the shoulder.
Again, the slow deliberation frustrated both teams and fans, with Bruno Fernandes appearing to gesture that the incident didn’t warrant a penalty before the final verdict was delivered.
The Premier League Match Centre said: “After VAR review, the referee overturned the original decision of penalty to Sunderland.”
Referee announcement: “After review, there is no foul by the Manchester United player. He does not make contact with the head of the attacker. As the ball is out of play when the decision was made, the final decision is corner kick.”
Former referee Mike Dean raised doubts about whether Attwell needed to go to the monitor at all. The Sky Sports pundit felt the process took too long given the outcome.
Dean voiced his concerns on Soccer Saturday, stating: “The issue I have, we have referees as VARs and assistant referees as assistant VARs.
“For some reason today, we’ve got an assistant referee as VAR and an assistant VAR. So they don’t really know what’s happened. For me, there’s no contact whatsoever. He shouldn’t have been sent to the screen, it should have been cleared on the field.”
The controversy threatened to take the spotlight away from an exciting opening half for Ruben Amorim’s side. Mason Mount opened the scoring just eight minutes in, giving United early control against their confident opponents.
Sesko added another before the 35-minute mark, as the Red Devils looked to recover from their previous defeat to Brentford.
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