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Should Said Benrahma’s goal against Manchester United have counted? Fans claim ball ‘IS CLEARLY out of play’ and ‘VAR is a complete waste of time’
Fans have been reacting to Said Benrahma’s controversial goal during West Ham’s 3-1 FA Cup loss to Manchester United, claiming the ball “clearly went out of play” in the build-up to the goal.
Following a goalless first half, the Hammers took the lead just after half-time, with Tomas Soucek receiving the ball right on the touchline and looking to dribble the ball out of play before sending a pass to Emerson Palmieri.
All the Manchester United players around the left flank stopped and asked the referee for a throw-in, but play continued, with the Italian left-back driving towards the end line before clipping a pass to Benrahma on the edge of the box. .
The Algerian advanced a few metres, before firing a shot past David de Gea and put the visiting team one goal up.
The referee returned for a VAR review but, controversially, the goal stood and the referees decided that there was insufficient evidence to overturn the decision.
Tomas Soucek appeared to dribble the ball offside during West Ham’s loss to Man United.
He said VAR checked Benrahma’s goal, but the referees found no evidence to disallow it.
Despite the goal, Manchester Untied managed to regain the tie with an own goal from Nayef Aguerd and two late goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Fred.
However, fans took to social media to denounce the decision, with some saying: ‘So VAR is a complete waste of time. Clearly see the ball fully on the line. Var decision-goal.’
Another said: ‘That surely crosses the line. (However, we must always keep playing.)’
United’s players seemed to halt when Soucek played his pass to Emerson, but were caught off guard by resourceful West Ham, following the home side’s slow first half following their Carabao Cup triumph on Sunday.
Alejandro Garnacho’s clutch effort put Man United in the lead on 90 minutes
Fred followed up with his third of the game soon after, taking advantage of a West Ham error.
And Roy Keane was quick to criticize his previous team at half time, saying there was: “No intensity, very sloppy going through the motions.”
“They just haven’t turned up, obviously the coach has risked making so many changes and he has great options off the bench.”
“You still hope United do the business in the second half, but it’s not good enough and I’m a bit angry.”
Meanwhile, others online took their frustrations out on VAR, writing: “I’m not a Man Utd supporter but the ball was over the line but VAR said it was absolutely no joke.”
Another added: ‘Casemiro was certainly offside, but the ball was also over the line, so it should be 0-0 at the moment. Var…..’
But the end result was good for the Lancashire club, with a great effort from Garnacho around Aguerd putting them ahead on 90 minutes.
It wasn’t long before Fred was on the score sheet, firing off a great effort following a mistake at the West Ham back.
United will advance to the quarter-finals of the competition where they will face Fulham at Old Trafford.