The rules on penalties change about as much as those of “Koh Lanta”, which explains why fans can sometimes be a little confused when a player touches the ball with his hand in his penalty area. Should we cry foul or play the football intellectual – “obviously there is no peno, you don’t know rule 12 of the IFAB? Muahahah”?
We asked ourselves the question again Tuesday evening during the match between Arsenal and PSG when, in the 78th minute, Italian central defender Riccardo Calafiori deflected the ball with his hand after a missed clearance from Saliba. However, if we base ourselves on this famous rule 12, the referee made no error of assessment. Let’s look at the two scenarios which should force a referee to designate the penalty spot.
Case number 1: “It is a foul if a player deliberately touches the ball with his arm or hand, for example by moving his arm or hand towards the ball. »
Verdict : Bradley Barcola’s shot was blocked by William Saliba before hitting Calafiori’s arm, who then tried to remove it in time, in vain. No intentionality in the gesture, no peno.
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Case number 2: “It is a foul if a player touches the ball with his arm or hand having artificially increased the surface covered by his body. […] When the position of his arm or hand is not a consequence of the movement of his body in this specific situation or is not justifiable by such a movement.
Verdict : Here again, no need for a long explanation, the ball having suddenly changed direction after Saliba’s counter, Calafirori did not have time to react in one direction or the other, to remove his arm from the trajectory or on the contrary voluntarily put him in his path to stop him. Still no peno.
No conspiracy theory against PSG, therefore. The Parisians, on the other hand, would have deserved to obtain a penalty following Declan Rice’s Teddy Riner belting of Marquinhos in the English area, at the very end of the match, from a corner.
