Manchester United earned a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Bodo/Glimt, which had a couple of dicey moments late on.
After giving up a lead, and then regaining it, let’s just say it would have been a real sickener if Manchester United had conceded an equaliser to make it 3-3.
Andre Onana made an injury-time save from a free-kick to deny Bodo/Glimt – but he was involved in a far more controversial incident a few minutes earlier.
Caught out on the edge of his box, Onana had to make a tackle to regain possession for United. In the process, there were questions whether he had committed a handball.
VAR ruled no handball, thankfully for the goalkeeper, who could have been slapped with a red card if the ruling had not gone in United’s favour in the 3-2 win.
Patrick Berg on Andre Onana incident
Bodo/Glimt captain Patrick Berg was quizzed on Norwegian television about the incident with Andre Onana in the second half at Old Trafford.
Asked what the referee said to him, explaining the decision, his quotes were relayed by NRK.
Berg said first of all that he believed there was contact, commenting: “I feel Jens [Petter Hauge] tries to drag the ball past Onana and then it hits his hand.”
He then added: “He [referee] explains that there is a rule that states that the ball can hit the hand if it is on the ground as a support, then it does not matter.”
Teammate Hakon Evjen added: “It looked like he takes it with his hand now and then, whether there is support or not. It is an open target for Jens at 20 metres, so it is at least debatable.”
Bodo/Glimt did not protest vociferously and that was the end of it, at least on the pitch. United went up the other end and almost scored, with Alejandro Garnacho firing over – before VAR green-lit Onana’s innocence.
Not convinced in Norway
While Bodo/Glimt’s captain accepted the decision, NRK’s football expert Kristoffer Lokberg was left asking questions.
He asked: “VAR must consider that he is not deprived of an obvious scoring opportunity, which means that they do not go in and give a free kick and a red card but then I need an explanation of what they think is a greater opportunity than what it potentially becomes if Hauge gets past Onana there?”
Bodo/Glimt assistant Gaute Helstrup was more accepting, but felt his side did not get the better of the decisions throughout the game.
He commented: “I think those decisions are correct, but there are probably two or three situations they look at VAR again which show that there are margins.
“And there are margins in these games, but we are quite close to getting something today.”
United are now 12th in the Europa League table on nine points, overtaking Bodo/Glimt who fall to 17th with seven.
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