Manchester United are reportedly planning to lodge a formal complaint with PGMOL after their controversial second penalty against Bournemouth on Friday night. Despite taking the lead twice against the Cherries, the Red Devils ended up drawing on the south coast.
Bruno Fernandes’ penalty gave United the advantage in the second half, but Ryan Christie equalized just six minutes later. However, it was a last-minute move for Bournemouth to hit back and United were furious with the referee, believing Amad had been pushed down inside the penalty area, although referee Stuart Attwell disagreed.
As the goals were scored in the same order, VAR would have disallowed Bournemouth’s equalizer and would have been within its rights to award United a penalty. Instead, the video assistant determined there was no foul play and the match was restarted at 1-1.
United regained the lead moments later, but the game was turned upside down when Harry Maguire was shown a straight red card for shoving Evan Wilson inside the penalty area. Eli Junior Crupi converted from 12 yards and the score remained 2-2 until full time.
The Daily Mail reports that United leaders are extremely unhappy with the decision and plan to lodge a complaint with PGMOL. They claim Amad was tackled to the ground and Bournemouth’s penalty incident late in the game was similar, but the refereeing was different.
United believe these two incidents were serious VAR errors, which could hinder their chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. The 20-time champions were also unhappy that they were given nine minutes of extra time in the second half, despite scoring four goals and undergoing two lengthy VAR checks.
Caretaker manager Michael Carrick was asked about the incident after the game, and the former England international said: “For him (Atwell) to give away one penalty and not the other…I think it’s crazy. I don’t understand it. Mentally. It’s amazing. One of us must be wrong.”
“We had a big chance to go 2-0 up and we got one penalty and we didn’t get the other. It’s just the same thing, you grab it with both hands. I don’t know which one was wrong because he got one wrong, but he didn’t give us the second one.”
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