Fans claim VAR failed to spot ‘blatant’ penalty in 63rd minute of Liverpool vs Man Utd game

A controversial incident in the 63rd minute of Sunday's Premier League clash between Liverpool and Manchester United has unsurprisingly become a huge talking point online.

If you tuned into the entertaining 2-2 draw at Anfield then you'll know that Liverpool were awarded a second-half penalty after defender Matthijs de Ligt was deemed to have handled the ball inside the box.

Moments after Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross was flicked on by Alexis Mac Allister, the outstretched arm of De Ligt made contact with the ball, bringing huge appeals from several Liverpool players.

After initially deciding against pointing to the spot, referee Michael Oliver awarded a penalty following a brief pitchside VAR review.

The Premier League soon explained the decision in a post on social media, which read: "VAR recommended an on-field review for a possible handball by De Ligt, deeming that his arm was raised in an unnatural position. Upon review, the referee overturned his original call of no penalty."

Mohamed Salah converted to make it 2-1 but some United fans were still aggrieved by a previous incident involving Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch, who appeared to handle the ball from a cross.

In fact, the broadcast failed to show a single replay of the incident following strong appeals from several players.

Here's how fans on social media reacted to the incident.

One wrote: "If the ref is giving a PK for that De Ligt handball, then he should be doing same for that Gravenberch’s handball. I’m shocked there were no replays to show it."

A second said: "Sky didn't even show us the replay of this...absolute disgrace. No idea if it's a handball or not but keeping these things from the public is a joke."

A third commented: "This is why I get annoyed at the handball rule. No one even blinked an eyelid at this. Consistency. That's what frustrates the living daylights out of me."

A fourth wrote: "Where is the consistency? @FA_PGMOL," and a fifth added: "Why didn’t they check that?"

How is this not a Penalty @FA_PGMOL? Why no replays? Why no VAR intervention?

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— Anshumaan! (@ansh_manutd) January 6, 2025

Thoughts on the above incident? Let us know in the comments.