MANCHESTER: The handball rule was once again the subject of debate when Harry Maguire helped Manchester United take a 2-1 lead in a 5-2 win over Ipswich in the Premier League.
The centre-back surged forward after winning the ball before firing a shot across the penalty area that was hit by Jacob Greaves and bounced in as an own goal.
The ball appeared to hit Maguire’s hand as he won it, but the goal stood as he was not the actual scorer of the goal.
Only if Maguire directly benefited from the handball and scored an own goal would a free kick be awarded and the goal disallowed.
Many certainly think Maguire benefited from the handball incident.
The Premier League match centre explained: “The referee’s decision to award a goal to Manchester United was reviewed and confirmed by VAR – with Maguire not being the immediate scorer following an accidental handball incident.”
VAR then said: “It was an own goal and accidental handball cannot be penalised, so we recommend the goal be awarded.”
But was it really an accidental handball incident? Maguire probably wouldn’t have won the ball if it hadn’t been in his hands.
However, that’s another debatable point.
The match was intense until the incident when Ipswich opened the scoring through their left-back, Leif Davis.
However, Bruno Fernandes took advantage of the opponent’s mistake to rush in and equalize before the break.
After Bryan Mbeumo missed a golden opportunity to put United ahead, Maguire’s shot, which was deflected by an Ipswich player, ensured the home side took the lead.
Fernandes then completed a hat-trick to make it 4-1 with 20 minutes remaining.
Mbeumo made amends for his mistake by scoring United’s fifth goal before Chuba Akpom scored a consolation goal in injury time to close the match out 5-2.