"The difference is": Owen Hargreaves makes Man Utd penalty claim after Bournemouth draw
Manchester United played out a 2-2 Premier League draw against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Friday.
The Red Devils took the lead from the penalty spot through Bruno Fernandes and should have been 2-0 ahead.
Amad was visibly fouled by Adrien Truffert in the box, and the Cherries went on to score just moments later.
United got back into the lead from a Bournemouth own goal, but the hosts received a penalty of their own.
Harry Maguire was given his marching orders for denying Evanilson a clear-cut scoring opportunity.
Junior Kroupi converted the resultant penalty to secure a fifth-straight league draw for Bournemouth.
Speaking after the game, former United midfielder Owen Hargreaves compared the Amad and Evanilson penalty incidents.
The 45-year-old felt Amad went down ‘too heavily’ and there was not much contact.
He added that there was more contact from Maguire on Evanilson and believes Amad would have got a penalty if he had gone down more naturally. He described the incident as ‘soft’.
He told Premier League productions: “Truffert, he has a little small pop at Amad.
“I think he just goes down too heavily because there is not that much contact. The difference is there is more contact from Maguire on Evanilson.
“He probably, I don’t think he needs to overdo it. I think if he had probably gone down a bit more naturally.
“He would have had more of a chance. Still, that one from Truffert on Amad was soft, I didn’t see that one as a penalty.”
Hargreaves was wrong with his penalty judgement
United will be deeply disappointed to have missed out on three points against Bournemouth.
They took the lead after a blatant penalty from Alex Jimenez’s foul on Matheus Cunha. Fernandes converted the spotkick.
The club should have had another for Truffert’s foul on Amad. The Ivorian was visibly manhandled in the box by the Frenchman.
Referee Stuart Attwell was right at the incident but decided against a penalty after deliberating for a couple of seconds.
It proved costly for United, as the Cherries scored at the other end seconds later.
Attwell eventually ended up sending off Maguire for denying a clear-cut opportunity for Evanilson.
In our view, both incidents should have been given as fouls, and Attwell was probably more biased towards the home side.
Hargreaves was wrong with his judgement over the decisions. If Amad’s incident was soft, the same can be said for Evanilson’s.
United should have won the game 3-1 with a man down. Instead, the club shared the spoils due to a poor refereeing decision.
Article written by Sri Aswin .