Manchester United vs Bournemouth: Eric Bailly concedes penalty 90 seconds after coming on in frantic 13 minutes
Controversial decision came fewer than two minutes after Bailly was introduced at half-time in which three goals were scored, another was ruled out and three VAR reqviews were needed
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Eric Bailly made an immediate impact after coming on for Manchester United in their Premier League clash with Bournemouth on Saturday - by conceding a penalty in just 70 seconds.
Goals from Mason Greenwood, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial gave United what seemed a comfortable 3-1 advantage at half-time, following Junior Stanislas’s opener at Old Trafford.
But a frantic start to the second half saw both teams make changes, Bailly concede a penalty for a bizarre handball, Bournemouth have a potential equaliser ruled out for offside and Greenwood add an emphatic second in nine barely-believable minutes.
Both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Eddie Howe made substitutions at half-time, with Bailly introduced after Victor Lindelof was forced off with injury, while Bournemouth boss Howe replaced David Brooks with Arnaut Danjuma.
The madness started with United goalkeeper David De Gea requiring the woodwork to come to the rescue, with an early Bournemouth attack resulting in Danjuma striking the post, but as United looked to regain control of possession Bailly appeared to lose the flight of the ball and allow it to strike the top of his left shoulder.
But referee Mike Dean elected to penalise Bailly for what he saw as a handball, and to make matters worse the incident was judged to have been far enough inside the penalty area to award Bournemouth a penalty.
The incident went to the Video Assistant Referee, who agreed with Dean’s assessment and confirmed the spot kick, but to Bailly’s frustration as he remonstrated with the referee. It made no difference to the outcome though, with Joshua King convincingly beating De Gea to claw the scoreline back to 3-2.
The decision caused outrage on social media, with Gary Lineker labelling the handball “ridiculous”.
He added: “Even if you want to argue it was the top of the arm, no way was it clear and obvious.”
Yet barely a minute later, Bournemouth looked to be on level terms with the equaliser scored by Danjuma, only for his effort to be chalked off for a clear offside after he over-ran the perfect pass from Dominic Solanke.
The error proved decisive, as within two minutes United were celebrating once more as Greenwood struck his second of the afternoon, before midfielder Bruno Fernandes added a fifth with a well-struck free-kick. In running with the extraordinary events that surrounded the match, the goal was reviewed by the VAR for an apparent offside as Nemanja Matic attempted to move clear of the Portuguese’s effort with his foot in an offside position, but Dean gave the thumbs up to put United 5-2 in front.
To put the icing on the cake, Rashford then had his second goal ruled out for another offside, with the VAR confirming the assistant referee’s decision by the slimmest of margins.
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