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VAR intervention made'mistake'as Man United become first team to suffer from rule change

Manchester United came from behind to defeat Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon with a controversial, retaken Jean-Phillipe Mateta penalty opening the scoring.

Amorim looks on from the dugout.

Ruben Amorim has been told VAR was wrong to intervene at Selhurst Park. (Image: (Photo by Simon Dael/Shutterstock))

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Manchester United have been informed they shouldn't have suffered from Jean-Phillipe Mateta's mistake which allowed him to retake a penalty in their 2-1 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon. Ruben Amorim's side scored twice in the second half to pick up a huge win, but that came after some controversy surrounding Mateta and his penalty.

A clumsy foul by Leny Yoro on the Palace striker gave him the chance to open the scoring from 12 yards. Mateta stroked his spot-kick home with Senne Lammens diving the wrong way, but replays showed the ball touching his left foot accidentally.

VAR instructed Rob Jones to make an announcement to the stadium confirming that Mateta would be allowed to take the penalty again. He said: "After review, Crystal Palace 14, touches the ball accidentally twice as the ball goes into the net. The final decision is a retaken penalty."

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has since offered his take on that incident via Sky Sports' Ref Watch. He said: "This is a first in the Premier League because the law was amended because of [Julian] Alvarez in the Champions League.

"What they decided now is because it's accidental and he's scored it's a retake. If he missed, it would've been an indirect free-kick. I think it's only fair. He doesn't mean to slip."

However, Jay Bothroyd has stated why United should feel hard done by Mateta being allowed a second chance after making a mistake.

"I don't agree with that," he added. "You step up to take a penalty and you plant your foot and touch the ball, it's bad technique.

"If you take a bad touch, it's just a bad touch. He's planted his foot ahead of the ball and has cut across it.

"That's his fault, he shouldn't get the opportunity to take it again for his mistake."

Jean-Philippe Mateta scores from the penalty spot.

Jean-Philippe Mateta scored a retaken penalty vs Man Utd.

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Had this scenario played out last campaign, it would have been considered a missed penalty by Mateta but Julian Alvarez's controversial double-touch in Atletico Madrid's Champions League shoot-out defeat to Real Madrid saw Ifab enter discussions with UEFA.

The rule has since been updated to state if an accidental 'double-touch' spot-kick is scored, it should be retaken rather than ruled out.

Thankfully, it did not matter too much with Joshua Zirkzee and Mason Mount both on target to turn the game in United's favour.

The victory at Selhurst Park was the perfect response to losing at home to Everton last Monday evening - despite having a man advantage for well over an hour. With Palace having played in France just a few days earlier, Amorim noted that played a role in their victory.

He said: "It was small details that helped. The pace and intensity was better in the second half. I could see that Palace were getting tired at the end of the first half and knew they would suffer if we scored.

"We went on to control the game well away from our goal and in the opposition's half. We controlled the game well, but just have to be careful about what we did in the first half."

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