VAR awarded a controversial late penalty for PSG against Newcastle (Photo: Getty)
The VAR officials who awarded PSG’s controversial last minute penalty against Newcastle have been stood down from tonight’s Champions League fixtures by UEFA.
Newcastle drew 1-1 in Paris on Tuesday night to keep their Champions League hopes alive but ought to have claimed all three points.
Alexander Isak put the Premier League club ahead in the first-half before the Magpies withstood a barrage of attacks from the home side and with just minutes remaining it looked like they had sealed a famous victory.
But then, Tino Livramento appeared to handle the ball in the area, and though referee Szymon Marciniak waved away the incident, VAR instructed him to go to the pitch-side monitor.
After a very quick check, he awarded a penalty, which was scored by Kylian Mbappe in the 98th-minute, even though the ball struck Livramento’s arm after bouncing off his chest.
Newcastle players and manager Eddie Howe were left fuming at the decision, while club legend Alan Shearer labelled it ‘disgusting’.
And it would appear that UEFA agree that a mistake was made as the Video Assistant Referee Tomasz Kwiatkowski and his assistant Ivan Bebek have been removed from duty.
Kwiatkowski was slated to be the VAR for Wednesday night’s clash between Real Sociedad and Salzburg, but has been replaced by Marco Fritz.
Bebek was due to officiate Inter Milan’s trip to Benfica but Bastian Dankert has taken over.
It is not known whether Marciniak, who refereed the 2022 World Cup final, will face a reprimand as he and his on-field team were not due to be in action on Wednesday.
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Handball offences are more frequently penalised in UEFA competition than they are in the Premier League and other European leagues.
But the UEFA Football Board, an advisory board made up of former players and coaches, including Gareth Southgate, had previously made recommendations that would have seen the Livramento incident go unpunished.
in April, they stated: ‘In their guidelines for the next season, the Board recommends that UEFA should clarify that no handball offence should be called on a player if the ball is previously deflected from his own body and, in particular, when the ball does not go towards the goal.’
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They were due to officiate Wednesday night’s games.
