The football social media was swarmed with Newcastle United fans expressing a sense of disbelief after the club’s Champions League match against Paris St Germain away from home ended in a draw. Newcastle, playing in the Champions League for the first time in 20 years, had taken the lead through Alexander Isak and seemed set to hold on to it with PSG being unable to convert the plethora of chances that they got.
However, it was not to be for the Premier League side as the referee pointed to the spot post a check from the video assistant referee (VAR) and on the pitchside monitor in the eighth minute of stoppage time. The ball had struck Newcastle defender Tino Livramento in the chest and then deflected off his arm, and a penalty was awarded by Polish referee Szymon Marciniak.
Marciniak had allowed play to continue on Tuesday after the incident despite vehement appeals from the PSG players. He then stopped play Kwiatkowski alerted him to a potential penalty. Interestingly, UEFA panel of storied coaches and former players said in April that “no handball offense should be called on a player if the ball is previously deflected from his own body, and, in particular, when the ball does not go towards the goal.” Moreover, it has now emerged that Kwiatkowski has been told by UEFA that he has been removed from the game between Real Sociedad and Salzburg.
‘Arms were not in an unnatural position’
The current laws of the game allow for handballs to be penalized even if the contact was not intentional and after a deflection if a defender’s arm is judged to be in an unnatural position. “But his hand is not in an unnatural position,” Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said after the game, “(his hands) are down by his side, but he is in a running motion.”
The cross from Ousmane Dembélé that struck Livramento was also going backward — and not towards goal. The penalty decision in the PSG game directly affected the standings in the tightly fought Group F, as it kept PSG two points clear of Newcastle in the second qualifying place for the round of 16 behind group leader Borussia Dortmund. “I feel it is a poor decision and it’s hugely frustrating for us as you know how little time there is left in the game,” Howe said. “There is nothing we can do about it now.”