Bukayo Saka gets away with ‘blatant handball’ as Arsenal star sparks outrage | Football | Sport

There was outrage during the first half of the Champions League final after Arsenal‘s Bukayo Saka went unpunished for what appeared to be a handball inside his own box. The Gunners took an early 1-0 lead through Kai Havertz’s brilliant sixth-minute finish at the Puskas Arena in Budapest. But PSG were denied a penalty to draw level just 10 minutes later after a bouncing ball from a corner seemed to hit Saka’s arm.

As he tried to clear the ball, the England winger missed his kick. The ball then hit the top of Saka’s chest before deflecting on to his right arm. TNT Sports’ co-commentator Ally McCoist reacted: “Yeah it hits his right arm, probably hits his left too.” German referee Daniel Siebert waved away PSG’s claims for a penalty – although some on social media claimed that the officials missed what they feel was a ‘blatant’ penalty for the French giants.

@CFC_Dubois raged: “That’s a blatant handball from Saka. They get away with EVERYTHING.” While @AbsoluteBruno said: “How tf isn’t this a penalty?? Obvious handball from Saka.” And @TheBallZoneX similarly posted: “This is the clearest penalty ever. Double handball.”

@Tunnykvng added: “This is clearly a handball from Saka. How is it not a penalty?” While @idoxvi said: “Saka is lucky the rules are stupid.” And @Bk8iP3 wrote: “How did PSG not get a pen from Saka loooll.”

It appears that because the ball hit Saka’s chest first, the contact was deemed incidental, rather than worthy of punishment.