Leeds United were denied a penalty in the latter stages of their 1-0 defeat by Manchester City after VAR looked at a possible handball and made a ruling.
The Whites were pressing for an equaliser late on against Pep Guardiola's title-chasing visitors when a cross appeared to land on the hand of Mateus Nunes. Though there was not a huge protest from the Whites, slow motion replays suggested the ball had hit Nunes on the arm in the box. But the Premier League say that VAR's view on the incident was that the Manchester City man's arm was in a natural position, so there was no need to ask referee Peter Bankes to take another look at it.
Leeds were aggrieved by the officiating on a number of occasions throughout the game, leading to angry scenes at full-time. Bankes' decision to end the game without adding on more time, despite giving yellow cards during the minimum of six minutes that were added on, infuriated Daniel Farke. The German charged towards the officials to remonstrate at full-time and was shown an immediate red card by Bankes. Farke was then restrained by captain Ethan Ampadu as he made further complaints to the refereee. The Leeds boss was unhappy in the second half when Rayan Cherki appeared to stamp on Ilia Gruev, but the officials did not deem it violent conduct or indeed worthy of a card of any colour. A free-kick given against Gabriel Gudmundsson in the Manchester City box late on in the game also incensed Farke.
The red card meant Farke was not allowed to take post-match press duties and instead his assistant Edmund Riemer stepped in, explaining that Farke's full-time reaction was an emotional one based on frustration over the referee's time management. Riemer also expressed disappointment with the decision to send Farke off rather than issue a yellow card.
Continue Reading