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Manchester United are staring at the barrel of elimination from the UEFA Champions League after another collapse, this time at Galatasaray.
Despite having two-goal leads two times in the game, player errors and lack of game management inexplicably condemned them to a draw.
Now, their destiny lies outside their own hands and players have rightly taken the brunt of the blame, particularly goalkeeper Andre Onana.
However, it has now emerged that the referee failed to notice a rule being broken for the Turkish side’s first goal, which would have ruled it out.
Hakim Ziyech was the scorer from a free kick where Onana’s bad positioning led to him being wrong-footed as the ball went to exactly where he had been standing before the kick.
Still, the goal shouldn’t have stood because as per the rules, if three or more players are in a defensive wall, all attacking players must remain at least one metre from the ball till it is in play.
For the goal, United had a four-man wall so this rule should have come into effect.
A Galatasaray player was standing close to the wall and beIN Sports later tweeted that he was standing just 61 cm away from the wall.
If three or more defending players form a wall… all attacking players must remain at least one metre from the wall until the ball is in play.
GALATASARAY’S GOAL SHOULD NOT HAVE STOOD! #beINUCL #MUFC pic.twitter.com/Wj4wJjz03r
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) November 29, 2023
Therefore, he was directly hampering the wall’s ability to shift or jump, thereby breaking the rule.
Unfortunately for United, the rule wasn’t enforced at the time, nor was the play called back, which likely means that the officials forgot about it.
It changed the momentum of the game as United didn’t go into half-time leading by two goals, while the goal being approved meant Onana’s head was already gone due to his positioning error.
It continued a theme of contentious decisions going against United throughout the group stages this season.
While the players and the manager haven’t helped themselves in the slightest with their performances, the reality remains that luck hasn’t favoured the team at all either.
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