Howard Webb wades in on 'super harsh' penalty decision that cost Newcastle Champions League football

PSG were awarded a penalty against Newcastle United which cost the Magpies European football

It remains one of the toughest VAR calls to watch back as a Newcastle United supporter. The Magpies were on their way to the Champions League knockout stages thanks to Alexander Isak's first-half strike at the Parc des Princes.

Eddie Howe's side defended for their lives against the French champions, only to concede a 98th minute penalty after VAR adjudged the ball to have hit Tino Livramento's hand from close range. Upon closer inspection, the ball hit the body of the Magpies' full-back before hitting his hand.

There was nothing the youngster could have done to move his arm, with it in a natural position. The win, would have likely seen Newcastle qualify for the knockout stages of the competition, had results gone the same way in the final game of the group.

It was a decision that sparked fury among the Magpies' fanbase and it still irks them to this day. Especially when we saw a similar incident in the Premier League during Chelsea's clash with Manchester City earlier this season, but PGMOL chief Howard Webb has explained why officials have taken a different stance this season.

Webb was speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, during which he said: “The laws of the game say you can only be penalised for handball in a small number of circumstances. If you’re an attacker and the ball hits your arm and goes in immediately or goes to your foot and you score, that has to be penalised.

"For me, that is tough because the ball can be drilled at you, it’s going to hit your body anyway. VAR has to spend about a minute and a half looking at different angles – did it hit the arm, did it hit the body – that’s frustrating when the player knew nothing about it and didn’t really get an advantage. Still, we have to penalise it as that’s the way it’s written.

“The other ways are, if you deliberately handled the ball – such as Luis Suárez in the 2010 World Cup where he dips it over the bar – or if you make yourself unnaturally big in a way that is not justifiable. This year in the Premier League, we’ve given zero penalties for handball, and I can’t remember any controversy around handball this year.

"The reason that is because we consulted with clubs, we sent a survey out to every club, every captain in February or March, and the feedback was very clear – you give too many penalties that are not real penalties, that are not handballs. Players are just playing normally."

"If you think about [Mateo] Kovačić in the game at Chelsea against [Manchester] City, he goes to clear the ball, [his right arm comes up] and the ball gets drilled from close range onto his arm – we just waved it away," Webb added.

“Now, in some other competitions, what they do is, they understand that making a judgement of natural and unjustifiable can be quite subjective. At some point, an arm can be too far away.

"What the governing bodies say is because there’s some subjectivity around a player making themselves big and making that judgement can be hard, the way your consistent is anytime your arm is away from your body and it blocks the ball, you’re going to get penalised. At least your consistent and players know what to expect.

“[We’ve changed that interpretation in the Premier League] because we’ve listened to the game, and we think we’re fine in the way that the law is written. We’ve said to the officials, only penalise when you form the professional judgement that the player has deliberately handled it, or even when the player has moved into the ball with their arm away – that is handball – or it’s just unjustifiable and they go to block a shot like this [arms fully stretched] and playing like a goalkeeper.

"But then you get situations like Newcastle [United] last year in Paris – that was a super harsh penalty. The ball came off a player’s body and onto his arm and they lost the game off the back of that.”

To watch the full episode, visit The Overlap YouTube channel

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