Manchester United looked dead and buried in their Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain, but a stunning comeback was capped off by a controversial video review.
PSG won the first match of the two-legged tie in Manchester, and with away goals used as a tiebreaker, they had two to work with. Manchester United, heavily shorthanded due to injury, managed to match that tally with two goals in the first half, but PSG’s Kylian Mbappe scored between them, keeping his team ahead on aggregate.
United looked out of ideas until a Diogo Dalot shot deflected off PSG defender Prisnel Kimpembe’s arm. Nothing was called initially, but the video assistant referee system stopped play to look for potential handball and awarded a penalty on video review, which Marcus Rashford converted to put United ahead on away goals and through into the quarterfinals.
Penalty or no penalty? #var #psg pic.twitter.com/T5BRZYElhK
— CroatianSports (@CroatianSoccer) March 6, 2019
VAR remains very new and very controversial. Many incidents of handball look worse in slow motion, and what actually constitutes a handball foul is quite subjective. There will be immense debate as to the merits of the decision, but it can also be said that PSG never should have let the tie become competitive and made two major errors that led to each of the first two Manchester United goals. They never should have been in that position to begin with. It will be a huge setback to a club that has made no secret of the fact that a Champions League victory is their ultimate ambition, and their second major collapse in the competition in the last three seasons.
