Shaun Wright-Phillips, Owen Hargreaves and Rio Ferdinand were shocked that Manchester City were not awarded a penalty for handball against RB Leipzig.
The reigning Premier League champions gave an assured first-half performance in Germany and took the lead through Riyad Mahrez, but the hosts grew into the match in the second half and levelled through defender Josko Gvardiol from a corner.
Pep Guardiola’s side did press for a winner and got a corner deep into added time. Mahrez played a one-two to get a better angle on his cross which was met by Rodri and though it didn’t appear to be a goal-threatening attempt, it struck Benjamin Henrich who then appeared to push the ball away with his hands.
It appears a conclusive penalty yet the referee did not award one nor did VAR intervene. It left the pundits in the BT Sport studio flabbergasted after the final whistle.
“That’s handball!” Wright-Phillips cried upon seeing the replay. To which Ferdinand said: “Wrighty said it’s handball, it’s got to be a handball. The ex-Man City player. I need a close up,” and Hargreaves added: “To be fair this is the first real time we’ve seen it, so.”
“Shaun’s devastated right now,” Ferdinand continued to joke, to which Wright-Phillips admitted he was but the former centre-back did concede it was a foul.
“That’s handball you know,” he said, which Wright-Phillips obviously agreed with: “That is handball, I can’t believe it!” The conversation continued:
Owen Hargreaves: “It’s handball. What is he doing?” RF: “He’s trying to push it away. Watch the City players’ reaction.” OH: “He played very well in the second half, Henrichs, when he came on, he covered that whole right-hand side, but that looked like it was handball.”
Rio Ferdinand: “The City players’ reaction there tells you all you need to know. They all react and they all go towards the referee.” OH: “No wonder Pep was annoyed.”
On the incident, Guardiola told BT: “I didn’t see it, normally. I didn’t see it so I cannot talk but I know what happened in these situations.”
