Free-kick, penalty… or drop ball? VAR intervenes on Real Madrid handball

Handball or handball not? On Tuesday night, VAR penalties were decided between Arsenal and Liverpool.

When a free-kick went down as a dropped ball just as they thought they had a penalty against Real Madrid, Liverpool fans were left completely perplexed.

Despite a Slavia Prague handball coming from the defender’s head, Arsenal were the ones who were saved.

Was Brennan Johnson’s dismissal against FC Copenhagen unfortunate for Tottenham Hotspur?

In the 30th minute, Real Madrid’s Aurelien Tchouameni blocked a shot that Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai made on goal.

The Real Madrid player was shown a free kick for handball by the referee, which appeared to be very close to being inside the area.

When the referee jogged over to the pitchside monitor, where the VAR was located, Liverpool fans inside Anfield erupted, anticipating a penalty would be given.

Except that’s not what was going on.

The VAR, not the referee, would make a factual decision about the location of the handball, not the referee.

A referee serves as the judge for a subjective decision, such as handball, to the monitor. The referee was therefore overturning his decision to handball by going to the screen.

But how did we start off with a dropped ball for goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois after receiving a free kick from Liverpool?

It’s a penalty because the handball actually occurred inside the box. Additionally, the VAR has the authority to review a penalty.

The free kick would have remained in place regardless of whether it had been proven to be correct or incorrect if the handball had been determined to be outside the area.

Although it was overturned in a Uefa competition, the outcome was acceptable. Kovacs likely noticed that Tchouameni’s arm was farther out, but when the Real Madrid player hit him, he had the ball very close to his body, without creating a horizontal barrier.

Play restarts with the goalkeeper, which effectively leaves Liverpool with their attacking possession because it was an overturned penalty.

Why did the VAR get involved when the ball landed on Provod’s head and was later transferred to the ball?

There is a distinction to be made between deliberately heading the ball and deflection in the Premier League, which is highly unlikely to have been a VAR penalty.

A defender shouldn’t receive a penalty if they nod their own raised arm when they receive a firm contact on a header.

He pressed in unaided to get the ball away from Marcos Lopez, and after his boot came up off the ground, the ball landed on Lopez’s leg.

Was the yellow card that the referee showed really a clear and obvious error, according to Erik Lambrechts?

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