Manchester United star Amd was brought down inside the penalty area by Brighton wing-back Maxim De Cuyper, but Antony Taylor rejected any claims for a penalty
Amad
Amad was denied a penalty for Manchester United against Brighton(Image: Manchester United via Getty Imag)
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Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher and Jay Bothroyd have disagreed on the decision not to award Manchester United a penalty in the first half of their 4-2 win over Brighton on Saturday.
United continued their fine run of form under Ruben Amorim with another emphatic display at Old Trafford. The Reds raced into a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from Matheus Cunha, Casemiro and Bryan Mbeumo before the Seagulls pegged them back.
Mbeumo added his third goal in two games in injury time to lift United to sixth in the Premier League table. However, there were frustrations inside Old Trafford when Amad went down inside the box and no penalty was awarded.
The wing-back seemed to be clipped by Maxim De Cuyper, but referee Anthony Taylor was quick to wave away any claims for a spot-kick. A statement from the Premier League Match Centre account on X read: "The referee’s call of no penalty to Manchester United was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that De Cuyper played the ball."
In the aftermath of the game, both Gallagher and Bothroyd debated a host of controversial refereeing decisions, including Amad's incident. However, they were unable to reach an agreement.
Bothroyd said: “This is a definite penalty for me. Amad Diallo is running into the box. There is the slightest touch.
“The defender, he puts his leg out, so obviously he has made contact. He touched the ball slightly, but that contact, has stopped Amad getting to the ball.
Amad goes down
Amad goes down after a tackle from Maxim De Cuyper
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“So whether he has touched the ball or not, and it’s a miniscule that he has touched that, because the ball is basically travelling in the same direction, he has stopped Amad getting to that. That’s why I would say that is a penalty.
“It’s the same as [Viktor] Gyokeres, again the smallest touch. These touches are not enough to say, ‘Oh he has touched the ball. It can’t be a penalty,’ because players can still get back to the ball. That’s why I would say the Amad one is a penalty.”
Gallagher, who spent over 15 years refereeing at the top level, disagreed with Bothroyd and pointed to previous incidents as to why the decision was made.
He said: “It’s interesting we have seen Gyokeres with Pope, we saw Saka with Kevin and we’ve seen this one, they’ve been consistent - if they get a touch on the ball, they are not going to give a penalty, they’ve done it for week six, week eight and week nine."
Bothroyd then replied: “But they did not do it for week five when Sanchez touched the ball and Mbeumo goes through. So they’ve changed the rule after week five is basically what you are saying.
Gallagher then said: “I didn’t say that at all. I said since the Gyokeres one where they came out and said, ‘He’s got a touch on the ball.’ In this situation, they have been consistent, as you’ve asked for, and they haven’t given any of them.”
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