Harry Maguire declares Arsenal penalty award shows why ‘we need’ VAR
Harry Maguire declares Arsenal penalty award shows why ‘we need’ VAR
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Harry Maguire has suggested video assistant referees are essential to the modern game, pointing to the controversial penalty that Arsenal won against him and his Manchester United team on Sunday to drive the argument. Maguire was stunned to be penalised by the referee, Andy Madley, in the 69th minute of the FA Cup third-round tie with the score at 1-1 and United down to 10 men after Diogo Dalot’s red card. The central defender had stood his ground against the Arsenal striker Kai Havertz, putting out an arm at worst only to watch his opponent tumble to the ground.
![[Joshua Zirkzee celebrates with Manchester United’s fans after scoring the winning penalty against Arsenal.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6d8214df6130a9da994e441a171a2e7a7297ebab/0_502_5416_3251/master/5416.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Maguire offered an insight into how the top-level player is wired these days when he said he was not worried about Madley’s award because the VAR would step in to overrule it. It then dawned on Maguire that the technology was not in use in the early rounds of the competition; it returns from the fifth round.
“It’s a tough one,” Maguire said, when asked if it was the worst penalty decision he had seen. “At the time when he gave it … my initial instinct was that it will be all right, VAR will turn it over and then I clicked on in my head that VAR could not intervene. So that’s when my head went a little bit.
“He [Madley] probably looks back … he knows he got it wrong. Listen, that’s why we have VAR because in the big moments, we need them correct and it’s a tough gig if we don’t have help for them [referees].”. The goalkeeper, Altay Bayindir, would save the kick from the Arsenal captain, Martin Ødegaard, before United advanced on penalties, Joshua Zirkzee converting the winner to complete a near-perfect redemptive arc – one to which Maguire could certainly relate.
