Dermot Gallagher couldn’t believe how Newcastle United had been cheated out of win 2 years ago today | OneFootball

Exactly two years ago today, Dermot Gallagher couldn’t believe what he was watching as Newcastle United were cheated out of a famous win in Paris.

Kylian Mbappe scoring a penalty in the eighth minute of added time to rescue PSG.

In reality, it was the VAR and the on-pitch referee who saved the French club.

Newcastle United set to follow up their thumping 4-1 Champions League win at St James Park against this lot, with a 1-0 victory in Paris.

You all know what happened, an absolutely shocking move by both the VAR and match referee to give PSG a penalty for ‘handball’ on Tino Livramento.

I sometimes wonder how much this changed the course of football history…

If that penalty had been given, Newcastle United almost certainly through to the knockout stages (by when many of their injured players would be available), whilst PSG all but guaranteed to be knocked out at the group stage.

Instead, that penalty given, Newcastle ended up knocked out at the end of the group stage, whilst PSG got to he semi-finals and then won the whole thing the following season. Would Luis Enrique have survived though, if PSG had exited at that group stage two years ago?

Dermot Gallagher played a blinder when talking (read below) about how Newcastle United had been so badly done to.

If you are doubting just how bad things had got with injuries (and Tonali’s suspension) by the end of November 2023, this was the (entire!) bench Eddie Howe had at his disposal in Paris. No offence but this is why he was unable to even bring on a single sub as United battled to protect their lead against PSG that night.

Dubravka, Karius, Dummett, Hall (by this point he had just turned 19 and had only just got into double figures in terms of first team starts in his entire career), Huntley, Ndiweni, Parkinson

Dermot Gallagher talking to Sky Sports about the PSG 1 Newcastle 1 penalty controversy on 28 November 2023:

“I think the fact the VAR has been stood down this morning speaks volumes.

“It’s just not a penalty, is it? If that was given in the Premier League, the media would be on it for a month.

“It was incredible. And why it was incredible is that this guy is a top referee, there’s no doubt about that. If you watch the game, he was faultless for 96, 97 minutes.

“He’s then been alerted to something by someone else, which he hasn’t given on-field – quite rightly. I really don’t know what he’s seen to change his mind on the screen.

“When I was watching it, I was quite confident he’d say no, walk away and stick to his guns.

“When you’re sent to the screen, and the VAR thinks you’ve made a clear and obvious error, that’s the key issue. That must play on your mind – have I missed something?

“But you’ve got to be mindful going to the screen too that you’re the one making the decision, you retain all options.

“He could’ve said no, in my opinion it struck him. He’s running through his list of considerations – is it a deliberate handball? Certainly not. Has it come from a short distance at speed? Certainly yes. Is his arm in an un-natural position? Definitely not because he’s in a running motion.

“But the key one is – has it come off his body? It hits his chest before his elbow, and the distance between that is almost touching both. He’s got no chance of getting out of the way.

“It’s simple! That four-point checklist, the first one was no, second no, third no, fourth definitely no.

“It’s definitely a deflection so it can’t be handball. I know it’s got to tick one of those to be a penalty, but it doesn’t tick any. Every single box has got a cross in it.

“Miley’s handball, which wasn’t given as a penalty, was only different in terms of the outcome. It deflected off his thigh, bounced up, and you see it all the time when there’s appeals in the Premier League but you see it’s come off his thigh and say no.

“I remember the famous one at Newcastle with Arsenal, where the referee went to the VAR and changed his mind because he saw the deflection, which he hadn’t seen at real speed.

“Last night the referee saw it at real speed, said it wasn’t a penalty and quite rightly carried on.

“You have the laws of the game, you can’t pick and choose them. They’re there, then there’s the considerations for want of a better word, these options.

“That’s your guidelines. Referees don’t have time to go through that on the pitch, it just becomes instinctive. You see that, in their head they know it, whether it’s a penalty or not.