dbdynsty25 wrote:Good call IMO...
Disagree. The handball rule in the laws of the game says there must be "intent" to use the hand or arm to block the ball. There is no way in HELL that the ref could have deduced nefarious intent of the PSG defender, who turned his back and clearly made an attempt to avoid the ball. I watched the game last night. I watched the replay at least 10 times.
No. Way. In. Hell.
The answer is simple, and it's a rare moment of agreement I have with Alexi Lalas: Change the laws of the game so that any contact with the ball by the arm or hand by a defensive player results in a handball call, and a penalty if it's inside the 18-yard box. Sure, that would give more of an advantage to the offense, but what's wrong with more offense?
Sure, PSG outplayed United for long stretches. But all of those attacks were blunted by just how careless PSG was on Lukaku's first goal and how badly Buffon botched the rebound on Lukaku's second goal. Those weren't flukes -- they were major errors that were punished fairly, by goals.
Still, as bad as PSG's errors were last night, I also watched the Ajax-Real Madrid game last night. Madrid made U10-level AYSO defensive mistakes during that game. It was pathetic. What's even worse is that Madrid's players seemed so insouciant about it all. They didn't even seem to care.
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