Phil Foden Bizarrely Denied Penalty After Being Fouled In Box Despite VAR Review

Manchester City were denied a clear penalty against Southampton, despite Phil Foden being fouled in the box and VAR reviewing the decision.

The Premier League game was poised at 1-1 when Southampton keeper Alex McCarthy horribly mis-controlled a back-pass and Foden nipped in to steal the ball.

In trying to recover the ball before Foden scored, McCarthy lunged and clearly thundered into Foden's foot, forcing the City midfielder to lose his balance.

Admirably, Foden tried to stay on his feet and keep control of the ball - but the opportunity to score was gone.

Weirdly, there was a delay while VAR reviewed the decision. But - to Foden's visible confusion - no penalty was awarded.

McCarthy was very lucky to get away without being punished, although goals from Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan just before half-time did give Man City a 3-1 lead going into the break.

Before that, Kevin De Bruyne had given City the early lead, but Pep Guardiola's side were pegged back via a James Ward-Prowse penalty.

However with the game at 1-1, it seemed obvious that the 20-year-old Foden should have won a penalty at the other end of the pitch.

Featured image credit: Sky Sports

Topics: Manchester City, Phil Foden, Premier League, VAR

Alex Reid

Alex Reid is a writer at SPORTbible who’s previously strung words together for FourFourTwo, Boxing News, The Guardian and, yes, Cruise International (it’s about big ships, not Tom). Interests range from football and boxing to real sports like WWE and darts. He is not a cage fighter.

@otheralexreid