Football moves so fast these days that it can be difficult to keep up.
The Chelsea vs. Manchester United game is still going on. In fact, there’s more than half an hour to play.
But there’s already been time for a potential penalty offence to be committed, denied by VAR, and then responded to by PGMOL, the referees union.
You can see their statement reported by Simon Johnson of the Athletic in the Tweet embedded here:
Regarding #CFC’s penalty claim for Maguire’s challenge on Azpilicueta in the first half – PGMOL confirm the incident was checked and VAR decided the on-field decision was correct. #surprising #MUNCHE
— Simon Johnson (@SJohnsonSport) October 24, 2020
Given the crazy calls we’ve seen for the very softest of penalties in the last couple of months, it seems pretty outrageous to claim that anyone could watch the way that Harry Maguire had both his arms around Cesar Azpilicueta’s neck and say there was no offence committed.
That was a penalty, and by saying they looked at it and thought it wasn’t a foul, they’re really not making themselves look any more competent.
