Harry Maguire was told that Manchester United should have been given a penalty at Chelsea but it wasn’t awarded due to the talk it would cause afterwards.
The stunning claims were made by Maguire’s teammate Luke Shaw, who suggested referee Stuart Attwell opted not to penalise Callum Hudson-Odoi in the first half through fear of the backlash he’d receive.
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Attwell was told by the video assistant referee (VAR) to look at an incident involving Hudson-Odoi and Mason Greenwood, with replays appearing to show the ball hitting the Chelsea man’s hand inside his own box.
But no penalty was given and the match finished goalless, with Man United losing more ground on leaders Manchester City, who won at the weekend, in the Premier League title race.
Shaw told Sky Sports: “If it’s not going to be a penalty, l don’t think they needed to stop the game.
“The ref even said to H [Harry Maguire] that ‘if I say it is a pen then it is going to cause a lot of talk afterwards’. H got told it was a penalty.
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“I don’t understand why the game is stopped. It’s confusing with VAR.
“I’m not going to moan about it because l don’t think either team did enough to win.”
Red Devils manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was furious with the decision, insisting it was ‘100 per cent’ a penalty and ‘two points have been taken away from us’.
Solskjaer also took aim at Chelsea over an article which appeared on their website ahead of the match.
It’s understood the article in question referenced Maguire’s elbow on Jamal Lascelles during Man United’s win over Newcastle last weekend, with Solskjaer suggesting referees are being influenced into not giving his side decisions.
Solskjaer told Sky Sports: “It’s not right, is it? It’s all these outside influences, even the VAR talk before the game on Harry, that’s cheeky. That’s cheeky when they put that on their website, that’s influencing referees!
“You read about what they say about the controversy about Harry Maguire, putting pressure on referees to give penalties against us.
“There’s loads of talk about us getting penalties… and now of course we should’ve had a penalty, that’s clear.”
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