Manchester United: Uefa explain why VAR penalty was awarded in Champions League clash against PSG

The controversial handball decision saw United complete a historic victory at the Parc des Princes

Uefa have published an explanation of why Manchester United were awarded a controversial penalty in the dying moments of their Champions League victory over PSG.

After initially awarding a corner when Diogo Dalot’s shot struck Presnel Kimpembe’s arm, referee Damir Skomina was alerted to the VAR replay and, after a long period of deliberation, awarded the penalty that would be scored by Marcus Rashford and send United into the quarter-finals.

PSG’s players were in disbelief at the decision, with the shot clearly soaring over the bar, however, earlier this year Uefa’s head of referees, Robert Rosetti, established that handball fouls no longer needed to be deliberate, and players could be penalised for having their arms in an unnatural position.

In a statement on the Uefa website, the governing body said: “The VAR, after checking various different angles available to him, recommended to the referee an on-field review following the penalty area incident.

“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.

“Following the on-field review, the referee confirmed that the distance that the ball travelled was not short and the impact could therefore not be unexpected.

“The defender’s arm was not close to the body, which made the defender’s body bigger thus resulting in the ball being stopped from travelling in the direction of the goal. The referee, therefore, awarded a penalty kick.”

The decision to award the spot-kick has remained divisive, with Gary Lineker, Michael Owen and Rio Ferdinand all saying they don’t believe it was the correct decision.

Kimpembe’s arm was deemed to be in an unnatural position (Getty)

PSG boss Thomas Tuchel insisted he was still a supporter of VAR after the game, despite admitting to being surprised by the verdict.

“I am a big supporter of VAR, and I remain a big supporter of VAR,” Tuchel said.

“When [Diogo] Dalot took a shot, I saw the ball flying straight from his foot and it goes way over the bar. I was surprised to see it was a corner because I hadn’t seen that, then he goes to the VAR, so I knew he was going to give it because he had evidence.

Neymar was incensed after the penalty was awarded (BT Sport)

“There are too many points in whether we punish it, the distance from the player, does he move his arm, it’s 50-50. Some say no when others say yes, that’s the difficulty with handball.

“To get a reward for shooting from 22 metres over the bar and get a reward from 11 metres doesn’t make sense, but we played on the thin line for 60 minutes knowing this could happen.

“I think it’s difficult. I think there are reasons why you can give this penalty. When he goes to VAR, we know he has reasons. With handball, you have soft facts but not hard facts. The shot is wide, and then suddenly it’s a penalty. OK.”