Paris Saint-Germain were controversially awarded a penalty after the ball bounced off their leg and onto their arm in their own area, but Alan Shearer slammed UEFA’s laws
Alphonso Davies gives Bayern Munich a penalty (Image: TNT/X)
When Paris Saint-Germain were awarded a controversial spot-kick on Tuesday night, Alan Shearer was quick to slam UEFA’s penalty laws. Les Parisiens hosted Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final, with Sandro Scherer managing the match.
At the end of an action-packed first half, with goals from Harry Kane, Hviča Kvaratschelia, João Neves and Michael Oliseh giving the Reds a 2-2 lead, Alphonso Davies appeared to have inadvertently handled the ball inside his own box. Ousmane Dembele tried to knock the ball into the area before it collided with the full-back’s leg and hit his arm.
Dembele immediately complained of a foul, but Scherer was initially unaware of the incident. However, when VAR intervened and the Swiss official was asked to look at the pitchside monitor again, he reversed his original decision and awarded PSG a penalty.
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And it didn’t take long for Shearer to vent his frustration with the decision, slamming UEFA’s competition rules. He said in the Amazon Prime Video commentary, “If you look at the recoil on his arm, to me it shouldn’t be a penalty.
“He acknowledged it. I don’t agree with that, I really don’t agree with that. If it falls off his leg and onto his arm, that’s a different story for me.”
“If it hits him in the arm, I might accept it. But if it hits him in the arm from another part of his body, what’s he going to do?”
Former referee Mark Clattenburg said: “Alan, I agree with you, but we’ve seen that situation many times over the last two seasons. It’s something we always discuss, it’s very controversial.”
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“But when you look at what it came out of its body, the legs on the arms, even if the arms were off the body, I don’t believe they should be given, and I agree with Alan.”
Shearer gave a very honest verdict: “I think handball is nonsense. I think handball has been locking itself up for years trying to get to a level playing field. And I don’t think that’s the case, but there you have it.”
Shearer was not the only British pundit to think that Bayern were unfairly treated as a result of the penalty. Wayne Rooney said at half-time: “I don’t think it’s a penalty.
Alan Shearer was unimpressed by the penalty awarded (Image: George Wood, Getty Images)
“His hand was behind his back and when the cross came in, he put his hand out and I think it went from his right thigh to his arm. Maybe the rules are different in Europe, but for me it’s not a penalty.”
He added: “I think it’s a bit unfair. Yeah, he put his arm forward and then the ball changed direction completely and hit his right thigh and he couldn’t get out of it and the ball deflected into his arm. I don’t see why they should give him a penalty for that.”
Premier League law states that it is not a foul if the ball deflects off a player’s body and hits his arm, but UEFA’s rules differ in that small deflections are nullified by arm movement.
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