Kompany: VAR should’ve studied Man City penalty claim

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Vincent Kompany insists VAR should have intervened and studied a Manchester City penalty claim before Liverpool broke away to open the scoring in their 3-1 Anfield victory.

Fabinho’s sixth-minute strike came just 22 seconds after the ball had struck the arm of Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold in his own penalty area and referee Michael Oliver had waved play on.

Moments before the penalty claim the ball had ricocheted on to the arm of City forward Bernardo Silva.

‘One way or another the action should have been stopped there and then in the other box,’ former City captain Kompany said on Sky Sports.

‘You can argue about Bernardo’s handball before. I don’t think he knows anything about it. It’s a natural position.

‘But [Alexander-Arnold] is a handball, that’s not a natural position. Stop the action then and make a decision. You go which way you want to go, but my interpretation is that Bernardo’s hand is in a natural position and Alexander-Arnold’s isn’t.

‘One way or another it’s had an effect on the game. I can understand why there’s [City] frustration.’

Fellow pundit Roy Keane said: ‘See that next week and it will be a penalty.

‘It was a huge moment, but they still had to travel up the pitch and City have to defend better than that.’

Former Premier League referee Bobby Madley took to social media to point out that City would not have been awarded a penalty upon VAR review as the ball originally struck the arm of Bernardo.

‘Point of law … as Silva handled the ball (albeit accidental) before TAA did this would have been penalised even if a penalty had been awarded,’ Madley wrote in a tweet, which he later deleted.

‘Attacking handball doesn’t have to be deliberate. So, a penalty would never have been possible due to it touching Silva hand in buildup.’

Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane put the game out of sight for Liverpool before a late consolation from Bernardo Silva.

Unbeaten Liverpool have won 11 of their 12 league games are now nine points clear of fourth-placed City, who trail Leicester and Chelsea by one point.

But Kompany said: ‘It’s worth remembering how City finished the game.

‘Anfield’s always been a problem, not just this year but time and time again.

‘It’s a physical battle in the middle of the pitch that City have lost. I’m talking across the years, we’ve just not been able to deal with that.

‘Did it mean that we didn’t win titles or the club has not been moving forward? Not at all.

‘So I would take the positives, learn and progress and understand that this league has not been played yet.’

But former Manchester United captain Keane believes Liverpool will take huge confidence from beating the reigning champions.

‘I know City had a go in the last 15-20 minutes but to me the game was over,’ Keane said.

‘Liverpool just sat back, were 3-0 up. I said before City are worthy champions and I don’t think it will have a big knock-on effect on them, because they’ve got a brilliant coach and brilliant players.

‘But the effect on Liverpool – already the European champions and the best team in England – going forward will be massive.’

Former Chelsea and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho feels Liverpool are now guaranteed to be champions, saying: ‘From my position I think it’s done unless something dramatic happens in terms of an injury situation breaks the team.

‘But I think the team is a complete puzzle. They play exactly the way they are adapted to the players.

‘City are capable of winning seven, eight, nine matches in a row, but I don’t see how Liverpool can lose the advantage they have.’

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Dean Workman