Bungling ref Irfan Peljto went against the latest handball rule change to award a penalty against Rangers.
Gio van Bronckhorst’s side suffered a damaging 2-0 defeat against Union Saint Gilloise in the first leg of their Champions League third round qualifier in Belgium. The result leaves them with it all to do at Ibrox next week with their chances of progressing to face either Monaco or PSV in the playoff round looking slim.
The Light Blues were nowhere near the standards they showed in reaching last season's Europa League final, and could find themselves back in that competition rather than dining at Europe’s top table. With rivals Celtic already in the group stage and set to bank tens of millions, the result in Leuven has the potential to be a catastrophic one. But controversy reigned in the second half when the hosts were able to double their advantage of the penalty spot.
A VAR check for handball was made after Connor Goldson appeared to handle following a ricochet of teammate Ben Davies Peljto ran across to his monitor to review the incident, and inexplicably pointed to the spot. Dante Vanzeir dispatched past Jon McLaughlin to give the Belgians victory in their first ever European appearance. There could be no argument with the outcome after the Ibrox side failed to turn up when it mattered.
But IFAB rules mean there is a valid argument against the whistler’s decision to award the penalty. The laws of the game were updated last season to provide clarity on handballs after a number of seemingly soft spot kicks were awarded despite offenders having little chance of avoiding making contact with the ball with their hands. And based on the changes, detailed on the IFAB website, Peljto should have reached a different outcome after reviewing the footage on the pitch-side monitor.
The IFAB website states: “Exceptions, e.g the player’s arm is already extended when there is no expectation of the ball coming at, or near, the player from a team-mate.”
That will frustrate Giovanni van Bornckhorst, who said there was nothing his players could do to avoid the handball, which the ref should have spotted. He said: "The penalty decision was surprising. If you have so much at stake you want to take the right decision. We couldn’t do anything with the deflection and handball but the penalty was given and they scored."
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