Paul Scholes slams ‘ridiculous’ and ‘stupid’ football law that almost cost Man Utd
PAUL SCHOLES slammed the “ridiculous” and “stupid” football law that almost cost Manchester United.
Scholes was on punditry duty for BT Sport to watch his ex-team beat Real Betis in the first leg of their round of 16 tie.
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring after six minutes but on-loan Leicester striker Ayoze Perez equalied just after the half hour mark.
But the leveller was controversial as Perez’s team-mate Juanmi appeared to handle the ball in the lead up to the goal.
VAR did not intervene as it was deemed accidental because it came off the chest onto the arm.
Further, as the handball came during the build up and not from the actual scorer, the goal was allowed to stand.
It left Owen Hargreaves to say: “It was still handball, wasn’t it Scholesy?”
Scholes replied: “It was a handball. It was not accidental.”
Hargreaves agreed: “Yeah, he actually meant it. Look where his arm goes. He almost goes to catch it with one arm.
“Even if you were playing with your mates in a training game in a park, you would say handball.”
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Scholes then added: “If you look closely, I think it touches his arm first anyway. It’s arm onto chest. But these rules are stupid aren’t they?
“A handball is handball. It led to a goal and it should have been disallowed.”
United boss Erik ten Hag could breath a sigh of relief as second-half goals from Antony, Bruno Fernandes and Wout Weghorst gave his side a healthy advantage.