Manchester City beat Manchester United 2-1 at Wembley on Saturday to win the FA Cup, but the match didn’t pass by without its fair share of VAR drama.
Should Casemiro have been sent off? Why did Jack Grealish concede a penalty? And did Kevin De Bruyne have grounds for a spot kick?
– How VAR decisions affected every Prem club in 2022-23
– VAR in the Premier League: Ultimate guide
Possible penalty: Handball by Grealish
What happened: Manchester United were on the attack in the 29th minute when Aaron Wan-Bissaka tried to head the ball into the centre of the box. The ball appeared to flick off Jack Grealish before Manchester City were then able to clear their lines. As play continued, there was a review for a possible penalty.
VAR decision: Penalty, scored by Bruno Fernandes.
VAR review: It’s a classic example of a modern handball offence, and a situation like this has usually been judged as a penalty for several seasons now.
There exemptions that could have saved Grealish, such as proximity to the play of the ball and expected body position for his movement. However, the City midfielder’s left hand appeared to move up toward the ball before it flicked his fingers. Was that a natural part of his body movement? Or a handball offence? Some referees will disagree this should be punished, but at the top level, with VAR, a penalty is always likely to be given — especially as the hand has moved above shoulder level.
Even though Grealish had no intent to handle the ball, or to make his body bigger, and clearly wasn’t fully aware of the ball’s location, it was that instinctive movement of the arm that left the VAR, David Coote, will little place to go in law.
If a red had been shown by Tierney, it wouldn’t have been overturned. But of course he gave the free kick the other way, so surely that’s a clear and obvious error? The VAR still have to judge this as a definite red-card offence, rather than just send the referee to the monitor for getting the free-kick decision wrong.
It was definitely worthy of a yellow card — again VAR protocol prevents an intervention for a caution — but doesn’t cross the threshold for a VAR intervention.
We have seen many challenges across the season where a player has caught an opponent above ankle level, but if there is no force or intensity then the VAR doesn’t intervene — that’s the case here.
It’s why fans get so frustrated with VAR; if it can give the Grealish handball, why not the Casemiro handball? Much of this comes down to the intricate guidelines around handball, which have attempted to cover every specific situation. For serious foul play, there hasn’t been such an overhaul, so perhaps referees make decisions more to their own view, rather than following strict application of a law.
Possible penalty: Fred challenge on De Bruyne
What happened: In the 39th minute, Kevin De Bruyne went down in the box under a challenge from Fred. The Beglium international was adamant he should be awarded a penalty, but Tierney wasn’t interested. The VAR had a lengthy check for a possible penalty.
VAR decision: No penalty.
