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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Joe Bray

Why VAR did not order re-take for Dean Henderson penalty save vs Man City

Manchester City fans were furious when they saw a replay of Gabriel Jesus' missed penalty at Sheffield United.

Not because they felt another City player should have taken the penalty - although Kevin de Bruyne might have been a better option - but because they felt Blades goalkeeper Dean Henderson had stepped off his line when the kick was taken.

Over the summer at the U21 Euros and Women's World Cup, VAR was used to penalise goalkeepers who stepped off their lines at penalties, causing plenty of re-takes and naturally plenty of controversy in the process.

At Bramall Lane, replays clearly showed Manchester United loanee Henderson was about a yard off his line as he dived to his right to keep out Jesus, yet no re-take was ordered by VAR.

Fans were quick to ask why VAR did not order the spot kick to be taken again, but in fact the offence does not come under the list of incidents the video referee can review.

Instead, it is left to the linesman to look at the position of the goalkeeper on penalties, with on-field officials also monitoring whether there is any encroachment into the area.

VAR will only intervene in the case of goals, mistaken identity or potential red card offences. Because the Henderson incident does not fall into those parameters and the linesman missed the keeper's step forward, play continued at Bramall Lane.

Watch Jesus' penalty miss here:

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