FIFA referees’ chief Pierluigi Collina believes Manchester United should have been made to play more minutes during Sunday's 7-0 hammering at the hands of Liverpool.
Erik ten Hag's side were spared a significant amount of additional time at the end of the match, with only three minutes signalled despite a number of stoppages at Anfield.
A total of 10 substitutions were made over the 90 minutes and six goals were scored after the break, with Collina is of the view referee Andrew Madly took sympathy on United due to their humiliating experience.
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During the World Cup, FIFA's new approach to clamping down on pauses in play was witnessed during a number of contests and resulted in as many as 10 minutes of additional time becoming a regular occurrence.
Stoppage time is calculated by minutes lost to subs, injuries, goal celebrations and VAR decisions - of which there were plenty at Anfield at the weekend. Collina was the driving force behind this change witnessed in Qatar, which is expected to be followed across world football from next season.
Explaining why Madley was wrong to account for only four minutes of extra time [one in the first half and three in the second] in Liverpool's 7-0 win, Collina told reporters: "Last weekend, 10 matches were played in the Premier League and four matches exceeded 100 minutes [in total].
“Two of them should have been higher than this only because they were 7-0 and 4-0 [Brighton v West Ham United] and the referee probably decided not to consider the additional time be given accurately.
"Six goals were scored in the second half [at Anfield]. I can understand that giving quite a relevant amount of additional time when it is 7-0 is difficult to understand in this specific match. But if the regulations of the competition say that the entire goal difference is relevant for the ranking at the end even one goal scored or not scored can make the difference.
“Maybe in the future we may consider to say that additional time has not to be given at the end of the match if there is a difference bigger than X goals between the two teams, but that would be in the laws of the game. Now it is common sense — but common sense is not common sense if it affects someone.
"In Spain v Costa Rica at the World Cup, Spain were leading 6-0 and eight minutes of additional time were given. Spain scored one [more] goal in additional time [to make it 7-0] and that goal could have cost Spain or Costa Rica qualification for the next round of the competition.”
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