Ian Darke: Ref was right not to award penalty for Coufal-Ronaldo incident
The referee was right not to give a penalty against West Ham in their defeat against Manchester United on Sunday, claims Ian Darke.
In the second half of the game, Vladimir Coufal looked like he outstretched his leg which then made contact with Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Portuguese threw himself to the ground and looked at the referee with hopes that he would point to the spot, but to his dismay, he waved away the protests.
Discussing this incident on Twitter, Darke who is a commentator for BT Sport, said, “Actually think it was a great decision not to award [Man United] a penalty for the Ronaldo-Coufal incident.
“The striker manufactured the contact by running into the defender’s leg. In that case the ref is absolutely right to reject the appeal.”
Right decision
Darke is absolutely spot on. In no way was that a penalty when you know that the player will be looking for even the slightest of contact to go down.
Ronaldo knew that there was no way out so he did everything he could to make something out of that situation.
Coufal rightly showed him on the outside and ensured that he did not have a clear sight at goal.
The Hammers’ defending was exemplary on the day and they deserved to come away with at least a point.
However, there were many things to be pleased about and David Moyes wouldn’t be too harsh on his side as the only reason they did not get anything was because Mark Noble missed a penalty.
Hopefully, they keep him these kinds of high intensity performances in the coming weeks and months.
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