Exclusive: Referee ‘deceived’ by Rangers as VAR fails De Ligt and Man United
Keith Hackett says the referee will be “annoyed” after he fell for Rangers deception and Man United had a goal disallowed in their Champions League match.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that the decision to disallow Matthijs de Ligt’s goal was the wrong one, and “VAR should have intervened.”
The scores were tied in the the 24th minute when De Ligt rose highest to put the ball in the back of the net, only for referee Erik Lambrechts to disallow the goal for a light foul by Leny Yoro on Robin Propper.
Both United and Rangers are still in contention to finish in the top eight places, and avoid a two-legged first knockout round, in the Europa League league table
Referee failed by VAR as Man United should have been awarded goal
The incident took place at a crucial point in the match, with both teams in contention to take a lead.
The ‘Gers had set up defensively, as predicted in the pre-match team-sheets, but were still looking to take advantage of the Red Devil’s leaky defence.
De Ligt connected beautifully to a corner from former Rangers man, Amad, heading past Jack Butland.
The English goalkeeper, only recently back from a nasty injury, could do nothing to stop the effort.
However, Lambrechts decided that the small bump from Yoro into Propper was cause enough to disallow the goal.
Reacting immediately to Football Insider about the incident, Hackett said: “The referee will be rather annoyed that when he disallowed the De Ligt’s goal.
“He was deceived by the defender who threw himself to the ground.
“There was no push and VAR should have intervened and advised the referee to go to the screen.
“Had he done so it is my view that he would have reversed his decision and allowed the goal to stand.”
The decision to disallow the goal, and some heroics from Butland kept Rangers in the match and at half-time, the score stood at 0-0.
In other news, Harry Maguire posted a message to Man United fans after Ruben Amorim’s dressing room outburst.
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