ZHAKE
The Premier League has been forced to change their statement after Everton were denied a late penalty against Manchester United at Goodison Park.
United were second best for much of the afternoon following an abysmal first half which saw the Toffees race into a two-goal lead thanks to Beto and Abdoulaye Doucoure. However, spearheaded by Bruno Fernandes’ brilliant free kick on 72 minutes, the Reds looked to have rescued a point when Manuel Ugarte lashed a strike home from the edge of the penalty area.
But all that hard work looked to have been undone in stoppage time when Andy Madley awarded a penalty for a combination of Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire’s challenge on Ashley Young. They would ultimately be let off the hook though as VAR Matt Donohue referred Madley to the pitchside monitor.
After observing a couple of different angles of the incident, Madley decided to overturn his decision and the Reds held on for a point. The final whistle would be met by boos from the home supporters with Young asking Madley why he changed his mind.
An explanation on the incident was forthcoming from the Premier League Match Centre, which wrote: “VAR checked the referee’s call of penalty to Everton for a challenge by Maguire on Young and deemed that no foul had been committed and recommended an on-field review. The referee overturned the original decision and play restarted with an indirect free-kick.”
Just three minutes after the post was published, the Premier League were forced to change their statement after a mistake by the account. The new statement read: “VAR checked the referee’s call of penalty to Everton for a challenge by Maguire on Young and deemed that no foul had been committed and recommended an on-field review.
“The referee overturned the original decision and play restarted with a drop ball.” The change to the statement would not make a big difference other than to ensure that the record shows that United were not awarded a free-kick after the incident.
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Qudus Salihu