Jonny Evans believes penalty decision against Northern Ireland is worse than Thierry Henry's infamous handball

Corry Evans was harshly penalised when Xherdan Shaqiri's shot cannoned into him, and his brother Jonny believes it is a worse call than when the Republic of Ireland suffered defeat by France in 2009

Xherdan Shaqiri's shot hits Corry Evans and leads to a penalty for Switzerland against Northern Ireland (Getty)

Northern Ireland head to Basel feeling greater injustice over Switzerland's penalty than the Republic did after Thierry Henry's handball, according to Jonny Evans.

The Northern Irish's hopes of reaching a first World Cup since 1986 via the play-offs were dented in the first leg at Windsor Park by referee Ovidiu Hategan's decision to award the Swiss a penalty, which Ricardo Rodriguez converted in the 58th minute, for a handball against Corry Evans.

He was in close proximity to Xherdan Shaqiri when the winger's strike cannoned into him as he turned, with replays inconclusive over whether it even struck the Blackburn midfielder's arm, which was tucked in to his body, or his back.

It was in a play-off for the 2010 World Cup when Henry's clear handball, which was not spotted by officials at the time, helped set up a William Gallas winner that sent France through at the Republic of Ireland's expense.

Jonny Evans insists Michael O'Neill's side feel even more aggrieved than the Republic did then after his younger brother was controversially penalised.

"It was actually a worse decision because the ref has made a call that was not there," Evans said.

"It's different if he didn't see it. He's claimed he saw something that didn't happen which is the hardest part to take about it.

"It's really, really difficult to take. In all of my career, this is a decision which has really, really hurt because in a game of such magnitude for a referee to guess...

"You can't really be 100 per cent sure if something has happened and I said that to him straight away. I said to him, 'Ref, you have to be 100 per cent here'. But it was too late, he had already given the decision and it's difficult to take."

Corry Evans was equally livid and his misery was compounded by a caution that rules him out of Sunday's return leg.

Jonny Evans speaks to manager Michael O'Neill at full-time (Getty)

"It was disgraceful," he told the BBC.

"I clearly didn't put my hand up. I know it hit me on the back of the shoulder and I'm just absolutely gutted."

O'Neill reacted with bafflement and fury to a decision that could have been overturned by a video referee, one day before VAR (video assistant referee) is to be used for the first time in an official UK game when England face Germany.

"It is staggering," O'Neill said.

"The ball clearly strikes Corry on the back and the referee has a clear view of the incident. I expected him to give an offside or a corner.

"I spent three hours in a video conference with Fifa the other week on VAR and when you see what happened, you would certainly be an advocate of it.

"If the linesman thinks it's a penalty, he should indicate that. You could tell even from the Swiss players, there was a reaction of surprise that they had been given a penalty.

Chris Brunt reacts to the 1-0 defeat (Getty)

"Corry's arm is not above his head or in an unnatural position, it's not away from his body and the ball didn't even hit him in the arm. It doesn't qualify for any of the criteria you are looking for for a handball in the box.

"(VAR) should be used for anything that is a defining decision, which is clearly what we saw. VAR would have cleared it up and said it's clearly not a pen."

Though the manner of Switzerland's winner stung, they were the better side in Belfast, where the hosts failed to register a shot on target.

"It's not a definite penalty," Swiss boss Vladimir Petkovic said. "We deserved to win, only because of our lack of finishing do we talk about this penalty."

PA