Former head of the PGMOL Keith Hackett has criticised Paris Saint-Germain vs Arsenal officials Felix Zwayer and Bastian Dankert for their 'over indulgent' use of VAR as the Gunners were knocked out of the Champions League.
Mikel Arteta's side were left with tails between their legs after being dumped out of Europe with Munich's final within touching distance.
That was the consequence of a 3-1 aggregate defeat to PSG over two legs.
At the Emirates Stadium last week, Ousmane Dembele struck to have the Parisians a narrow advantage before heading back to their Parc des Princes home.
And Arsenal were unable to complete the turnaround, falling 2-1.
But it was two late goals that defined that scoreline and at the point at which PSG were leading by one goal in the second leg clash, there was a VAR decision made with potentially huge repercussions.
Myles Lewis-Skelly was adjudged to have handled the ball, his arm trailing away from his body as an Achraf Hakimi shot flew into the gloves of David Raya.
Confusion followed as play had been allowed to continue and Arsenal had ventured to the other end of the field by the time on-field referee Zwayer had liaised with his VAR, Dankert, and gone over to check the touchline monitor.
After they decided to give PSG an opportunity from 12 yards over the incident, Hackett responded to Football Insider: "Well, I do think that Arsenal had every right to be aggrieved at the award of this very poor penalty kick for handball.
"The word 'deliberate' is within the law - I don't see this as a player making his body shape larger in order to stop or handle the ball.
"This, again, is an over indulgent VAR who wants to get involved and the referee who goes to the screen capitulates and takes the VAR's call, rather give a no, no, and let the game continue."
It was a decision that was also blasted by Alan Shearer, with the Premier League legend writing on X: "Ah man do me a favour. Handball for that is just crap."
Arsenal were just thankful that Raya was able to stop the resulting attempt from midfielder Vitinha with self belief they could still muster a comeback in the remaining 21 minutes.
Unfortunately Hakimi would strike only three minutes later to put PSG 3-0 ahead on aggregate, leaving Bukayo Saka to grab a consolation in the closing stages of the tie.
The Gunners have thus been denied a place in 2025's final in Munich, which is to now be contested by PSG and Inter Milan.
There are three more Premier League matches of the season to play against Liverpool, Newcastle United and Southampton.
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