Fans have been reacting to Said Benrahma’s controversial goal during West Ham’s 3-1 FA Cup loss to Manchester United, claiming the ball ‘clearly went out of play’ in the build up to the goal.
Following a goalless first half, the Hammers took the lead just after the break, with Tomas Soucek receiving the ball just on the touchline and looked like he had dribbled the ball out of play before laying it off to Emerson Palmieri.
The Manchester United players around the left wing all stopped and appealed to the referee for a throw-in, but play continued, with the Italian left-back driving to the byline before cutting a pass back to Benrahma on the edge of the box.
The Algerian advanced a few yards, before unleashing a cannon of a strike past David de Gea, to put the away side one goal up.
The referee came back for a VAR review, but controversially the goal stood, with the officials deciding there was not enough evidence to overturn the decision.
Tomas Soucek appeared to dribble the ball out of play during West Ham’s defeat to Man United
Said Benrahma’s goal was checked by VAR but the officials found no evidence to overturn it
Despite going a goal down, Manchester Untied still managed to pull an equaliser back through an own goal from Nayef Aguerd, before turning the tables on the Hammers, with two late strikes from Alejandro Garnacho and Fred guaranteeing them a spot in the final eight of the Cup competition.
Yet, fans took to Social media to call out the decision, with some saying: ‘So VAR is a complete waste of time. [You can] Clearly see the ball totally over the line. VAR decision – goal.’
Another said: ‘That is surely all over the line. (We should always play on however).’
The United players did seem to stop as Soucek played his pass to Emerson, but quick witted West Ham caught them off guard.
Alejandro Garnacho’s clutch curling effort put Man United in the lead in the 90th minute
Fred followed up with their third of the game shortly after, capitalising on a West Ham mistake
And Roy Keane was quick to criticise his former side at half time for their slow performance in the first half, saying there was: ‘No intensity, very sloppy going through the motions.’
‘They’ve just not turned up, obviously the manager has taken a gamble making so many changes and he’s got great options off the bench.
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‘You still expect united to do the business off the second half but nowhere near good enough and a I’m little bit angry.’
Meanwhile, others online vented their frustrations against VAR, with one writing: ‘I’m not a Man Utd supporter but the ball was over the line but VAR said it wasn’t it’s absolutely a joke.’
Another added: ‘No doubt Casemiro was offside but the ball was also over the line so it should be 0-0 right now. Var…..’
But the end result was a good one for Man United, with Garnacho’s clutch curling effort putting them ahead on the 90th minute.
It wasn’t long before Fred also got on the scoresheet, firing home a thumping effort following a mistake at the back from West Ham.
United will advance to the quarter-finals of the competition where they will take on Fulham at Old Trafford.