Luke Shaw says ref told Harry Maguire people would ‘talk afterwards’ if he gave Man Utd handball penalty against Chelsea
LUKE SHAW claims referee Stuart Attwell told Harry Maguire people would ‘talk afterwards’ if he gave Manchester United a penalty for handball against Chelsea.
The Red Devils were left fuming after Callum Hudson-Odoi appeared to handle the ball in the Blues’ penalty area.
But ref Attwell decided NOT to award the spot-kick after a lengthy check on the VAR touchline monitor.
The Stamford Bridge clash ended 0-0 – the second goalless draw between Chelsea and United in the league this season.
And Shaw has now claimed Attwell was involved in a confusing exchange with Red Devils captain Maguire in the wake of the incident.
Shaw told Sky Sports: “At the time I saw a handball but I wasn’t sure whether it was Mason (Greenwood) or Callum.
“I don’t know why they checked for a pen, if it’s not going to be a pen I don’t think they needed to stop.
“I even heard the ref say to H ‘if I say it’s going to be a pen, it’s going to cause a lot of talk afterwards’.
“I don’t know what happened there. H got told it was going to be a pen, they got told it was going to be a pen by VAR.
“I don’t understand why they’ve got to stop it, you think he’s going to give a penalty.
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“We were attacking, it’s confusing with this VAR, if it’s not going to be a pen, we don’t want it to stop the flow of the game.”
The controversial incident happened around 15 minutes into Sunday’s Premier league clash.
Marcus Rashford fired off a ferocious free-kick at Edouard Mendy, who parried it into the air and over to the right of his box.
Hudson-Odoi and Greenwood both challenged for the ball, which took a bounce as both players raised their arms.
Play continued as VAR decided to check the incident, with ref Attwell eventually stopping play to go to the TV monitor.
Both sets of players berated the official as he checked the incident from various angles.
Indeed, replays suggested the ball took a definite touch off Hudson-Odoi’s hand, which was being raised upwards during the incident.
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville was adamant a penalty would be awarded.
But the ref left United gobsmacked as he instead dismissed the claims and restarted the game with a free-kick for the visitors in their own half.