How PSG drew 1-1 vs Newcastle in Champions League after Mbappe's late penalty goal

In added time, Newcastle were leading 1-0 and had held on valiantly, riding their luck during the second half, before fortune completely went against them.

Ousmane Dembele took on Tino Livramento in the box and the ball looped up to hit the Newcastle defender’s midriff, before deflecting onto his left arm. It was clearly body before ball and the arm was not raised high, yet the VAR officials asked Szymon Marciniak, the referee, to review it on his monitor.

Under FIFA’s handball guidelines, the fact that the ball had deflected off Livramento’s body and onto his arm was not relevant if the officials deemed the defender’s arm to be in an unnatural position away from his body.

Marciniak, an official who has refereed at the very highest level, including the World Cup final, duly overturned his initial decision to wave play on and pointed to the spot.

The decision was widely criticised by former players, with ex-Newcastle striker Alan Shearer calling it “disgusting” and Ally McCoist, the Scotland international turned commentator who was working on the match, saying it was “nonsense”.

Former FIFA referee Christina Unkel, however, explained to U.S. broadcaster CBS why it was the right call according to the current laws of the game.

“It is a penalty,” she said. “The extended left arm effectively creates a barrier. Once that arm is out, even though there is a deflection, that is no longer part of the interpretation or the analysis. I know it’s one that many don’t like and it’s something that the International Football Association Board (the sport’s lawmakers) are looking at.”

It was the cruellest of endings for Newcastle, taking their Champions League destiny back out of their own hands with one game to go, and surely raises questions over whether the handball rule should be revised (again).