Paul Scholes has blasted the “stupid” handball law as he insisted Real Betis should have had their goal disallowed in their 4-1 defeat at Manchester United on Thursday.
Ayoze Perez struck a fine equalising goal for the Spanish side in the first half after Marcus Rashford had given United the lead. Second-half goals from Antony, Bruno Fernandes and Wout Weghorst took the first leg away from the visitors, giving United a three-goal cushion ahead of next week’s return leg in Seville.
While Perez – on loan at Betis from Leicester – produced a superb strike to level the score, the goal was controversial as the ball appeared to strike the ball of his teammate Juanmi in the build-up to the goal. VAR did not intervene and the goal was allowed to stand.
After the match, BT Sport’s host of the coverage, Jules Breach, explained: “To clarify the law, because it is in the build-up to the goal and not from the goal scorer, because it was deemed as an accidental handball because it came off the chest onto the arm, that is why it was not deemed to be a handball.”
She then added after the explanation in a nod to Scholes: “But Paul, I know you don’t like the law,” as fellow BT Sport pundit Owen Hargreaves added: “It was still handball, wasn’t it Scholesy?”
Scholes responded, bluntly: “It was a handball. It was not accidental.” Hargreaves agreed, highlighting that Juanmi deliberately positioned his arm that way: “Yeah, he actually meant it. Look where his arm goes. He almost goes to catch it with one arm.
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“Even if you were playing with your mates in a training game in a park, you would say handball.”
Scholes then added, berating the rule: “If you look closely, I think it touches his arm first anyway. It's arm onto chest. But these rules are stupid aren’t they?
“A handball is handball. It led to a goal and it should have been disallowed.”
Hargreaves ended the discussion in agreement, adding: “These laws, the way they are written is getting ridiculous.”
The goal itself was not enough to condition the match with United running out three-goal winners thanks to an impressive match and a particularly strong showing in the second half, bouncing back from their seven-goal humiliation at Liverpool on Sunday.
Erik ten Hag’s side now will now travel to Seville next week for the second leg of the tie as they look to secure their place in the quarter-finals of the competition.
