VAR MAY HAVE MADE BIG ERROR IN 2-1 MAN UTD LOSS

Referee Paul Tierney and David Coote on VAR may have made a big mistake for not sending off Manchester United midfielder Casemiro in the FA Cup final.

What's the latest on VAR and Man United

The Manchester derby took place on Saturday afternoon at Wembley Stadium with both teams chasing cup glory.

However, Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan stunned everyone when he opened the scoring with a wonderful volley after just 13 seconds.

The Red Devils managed to get themselves level before half time though when VAR told referee Tierney to review a possible handball.

The ball did hit Jack Grealish's arm, but from a very close range, and so the penalty was awarded in controversial fashion before Bruno Fernandes made no mistake from 12 yards.

Despite all that drama in the first half alone, there was actually another key incident that should not be forgotten – as shown on the BBC Match of the Day Twitter account.

Did Casemiro deserve a red card?

As the replay shows, Casemiro arrives late on Manuel Akanji and plants his studs on the Man City man's foot after gliding down his shin. It's a very poor challenge but referee Tierney missed it in the moment, actually awarding a foul to Man Utd.

VAR did review the incident but decided it wasn't a clear and obvious mistake and so didn't inform the referee to reach for his red card – meaning Casemiro got away without even a booking.

On the BBC commentary, Jermaine Jenas criticised the tackle, saying: "You can clearly see, he's gone over the top of the ball and caught Akanji on the inside of his ankle. It's not a pretty one that, at all."

He added: "It's nasty from that... he knows what he's doing there Casemiro."

Adding to this, Executive Secretary of the Football Writers' Association (FWA) Paul McCarthy wrote on Twitter: "If VAR gives the penalty, how the hell does it not see when Casemiro topped Akanji?"

In the end, even with this vital decision going in their favour, MUFC still couldn't get the victory as Man City won the game 2-1 thanks to another volley from Gundogan in the second half.

2023-06-03T16:11:42Z dg43tfdfdgfd