Former referee: I don t think Marseille players should be judged for handball, but there is a gray area for handball rules at present

September 17th In the first round of the Champions League held in the early morning of this morning, Real Madrid defeated Marseille 2-1 at home. Former international referee Said Njimmy, who serves as a consultant to The Team, talked about the penalty penalty controversy in the game. In the 79th minute of the game, when Marseille player Medina fell to the ground to defend in the penalty area, the football rebounded and hit his arm, and the referee awarded a penalty kick. Real Madrid won 2-1 with this penalty, but this caused dissatisfaction in Marseille. The rules stipulate that if the position of a player's arm is not a natural result of body movement, but deliberately using his arms to increase the defense area and lead to a handball, then a foul will be awarded.

Said Njimmy first said: "First of all, I can understand that the referee immediately blows the whistle and judges the handball foul so that he can make sure he doesn't make a mistake. But I thought the VAR referee would review the penalty. Because the player was tackled at the time, his arms spread out did expand the defense area, but it was a natural move. We can't ask the player to move his arms away in that situation, and he can't put his arms elsewhere."

Said Njimmy Then said: "In my opinion, this penalty was made a mistake, but this is just my personal opinion. This is not an obvious mistake, and it may be that VAR did not intervene. The current handball rules are difficult to interpret, and there is a gray area. If the referee did not call the penalty at that time, VAR would not intervene. Now there are too many penalty kicks targeting the players who tackle... This penalty goes against a player's completely natural posture when a player tackles normally, and they have not tried to increase the defense area."