Marcus Rashford apologised for his ill-discipline in the best way possible against Wolves by grabbing the winner from the bench, but he will rue not walking away from the game with a second goal.
After being dropped by Erik ten Hag because of an “internal disciplinary” issue, the England striker came on to net his 11th goal of the season on 76 minutes. Eight minutes later, he had the ball in the net again.
The 25-year-old received the ball in the box before powering past defender Nathan Collins to fire at goal. The ball came back off Jose Sa and rebounded onto Rashford before bouncing into the net.
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The striker ran off to the travelling fans in celebration, although may have had a bit of doubt in his mind about whether it would stand. The goal was subject to a VAR check, which eventually deemed that the ball had ricocheted off his arm and into the net.
Whether accidental or not, the latest updates to the handball rule mean under no circumstances can a goal be directly scored when the ball hits the arm below the 'T-shirt line' - where the sleeve ends.
During commentary for BT Sport, former referee Peter Walton outlined why the goal wasn’t given as the VAR check was in progress. He said: “I think this goal will be disallowed due to the fact that the goalscorer has handled the ball.
“It’s an accidental handball but it still goes in off his arm, this goal should be disallowed.” Rules state that if the ball had accidentally hit Rashford’s arm and fallen to a teammate to score, the goal would have stood.
But even if the United striker himself had scored with his boot after accidentally handling the ball, the strike would not have stood, given a scorer cannot commit a handball offence that immediately precedes a goal, accidental or not.
The striker faced such a situation in October's 2-1 win over Everton earlier this season. A lung-busting run from the attacker ended with the ball in the net, but a VAR check determined that he had handled during the dribble.
If he had squared to Burno Fernandes, and he had rolled the ball home, the goal would have stood.
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