Paul Scholes slams ‘stupid’ handball rule as VAR allows controversial goal against Manchester United

Marc Mayo10 March 2023

Paul Scholes made clear his unhappiness with Ayoze Perez’s goal for Real Betis in their Europa League match against Manchester United.

The Red Devils ran out 4-1 winners on Thursday night but only after the Leicester loanee had levelled the last-16 tie.

United were unhappy with the goal, which was given after a VAR check for a potential handball by Juanmi in the build-up.

The Spanish forward appeared to control the ball with the help of his arm in a moment deemed accidental by officials, which did not trigger a foul according to the rules of the game because he was not the goalscorer.

But Scholes told BT Sport: “It’s handball and it’s not accidental handball, look where his arm goes!”

“If you watch closely, I think it touched his arm first anyway.

“These rules are stupid, aren’t they? Handball is handball, it’s handball that led to a goal and should have been disallowed.”

Fellow ex-United player Owen Hargreaves agreed as he thought it was common sense for the goal to be chalked off.

“Even if you’re playing with your mates in a training game down the park, you’d say handball,” he added. “These laws are getting ridiculous.”

Despite the equaliser, United claimed a significant first-leg advantage thanks to second-half goals from Antony, Bruno Fernandes and Wout Weghorst.

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