Manchester United will return from Donostia-San Sebastian with a point after their Europa League Round of 16 first-leg tie against Real Sociedad ended 1-1 on Thursday.
It was Joshua Zirkzee who handed the Red Devils the lead with a fantastic low finish past the keeper after he was found on the edge of the box by Alejandro Garnacho.
The game at the Reale Arena should have been comfortably put to bed by the visitors who missed a glut of glorious chances before they were sucker punched in the 70th minute.
A Real Sociedad corner was cleared by the United defence and play went on with none of the home side players complaining about anything but VAR stopped play for a possible handball offence inside the box. Even the home fans were just as confused by the decision!
Shocking refereeing
And the referee went to the monitor and eventually pointed to the spot with replays showing a header from a Real Sociedad player hit Bruno Fernandes’ hand from point-blank range as he was jumping to contest the header.
The referee was placed five yards away and he initially did not award anything, nor did a single player complain yet VAR, sitting miles away, sought to find infringements when their job is to assist the referee and not interfere with play.
The UEFA handball rule needs to be studied and implemented properly because the incident was clearly not a penalty and United can feel hard done by what happened in the end.
VAR have harmed United countless times this season, with Erik ten Hag losing his job after VAR got involved in a innocuous coming together inside the box to hand West Ham an undeserved penalty.
Patrick Dorgu’s red card was another recent incident where VAR got it completely wrong. Look at Liverpool’s Champions League game on Wednesday and how VAR did not award neither a penalty nor a red card when the referee should’ve awarded both to Paris Saint-Germain.
Real Sociedad profit
The hosts were toothless up till that point and hardly created a chance of note. They did have a couple of chances towards the end to snatch all three points but a combination of wasteful finishing and Andre Onana ensured the game ended all square.
As for the Red Devils, Amorim’s decision to not pick academy players meant he kept Rasmus Hojlund on for the full game even though he was shocking yet again.
Missed chances continue to be the story of the season with Garnacho responsible for missing quite a few of them. United also decided to hold on to the lead after scoring, another mistake given the team’s leaky backline.
All to play for at Old Trafford and Amorim will hope he can get a few players back in time for the game. And fans will hope the refereeing is a tad bit better on the night.
Feature image Ion Alcoba via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
