“VAR making amends for their sins”, “It is called karma” – Rival fans laugh at Manchester United over penalty incident against Tottenham

Rival fans are laughing at Manchester United's expense after the Red Devils were denied a penalty in their enthralling Premier League clash at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday (August 19).

Erik ten Hag's Reds were aggrieved when Spurs defender Cristian Romero handled in his own box in the 25th minute. However, their protests fell on deaf ears ,as referee Michael Oliver and VAR denied them a spot-kick.

Tottenham made the most of the reprievem as Pape Sarr bagged his first goal for the club in the 49th minute. Things exacerbated for Manchester United when Lisandro Martinez scored an own goal eight minutes from time.

The Red Devils headed into the game off a rather fortuitous win against Wolverhampton Wanderers in their league opener on Monday. They sealed a 1-0 win but were fortunate not to concede a penalty late on.

New Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana hda clattered into Wolves forward Sasa Kalajdzic. However, referee Simon Hooper didn't award a penalty, and PGMOL boss Jon Moss later apologised to Wolves manager Gary O'Neil for the obvious error.

Rival fans feel that Ten Hag's side have suffered a sense of justice amid their own penalty appeal being turned down against Tottenham. It eventually played its role in the Red Devils coming undone in the second half.

Here's how Twitter reacted to Manchester United not being awarded a penalty against Tottenham:

Piers Morgan tells Manchester United fans Cristiano Ronaldo was right about Erik ten Hag

Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United by mutually terminating his contract consent in November. The Portuguese icon was at loggerheads with Ten Hag.

The 38-year-old hit out at the Dutchman for disrespecting him in an interview with Piers Morgan on Talk TV. It was against Tottenham coincidentally when Ronaldo headed down the tunnel before the final whistle last season after refusing to come on as a substitute.

Morgan has now told Manchester United fans that Ronaldo was correct in his assessment of Ten Hag. He tweeted:

Ten Hag arrived at Old Trafford in May 2022 and ended the club's six-year trophy drought. His side won the Carabao Cup, but they did endure topsy-turvy form and put a top-four finish at risk in the later stages of the season.

However, United did clinch third place in the league and returned to the UEFA Champions League. Yet, there are still questions asked about Ten Hag amid some tough decisions he has made.

About the author

Matthew is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who has been covering news, rumors and match reports for close to 3 years. Learning creative writing from University of Essex, he combined his skills and passion for football take up writing for the sport professionally.

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A Manchester United fan since childhood, Matthew admired Sir Alex Ferguson for his loyalty and brave coaching style. His favorite footballer is Thierry Henry, believing the Frenchman to be uniquely talented and charismatic. An ardent Three Lions fan, England's penalty shootout win over Colombia in 2018 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment of all time, and he believes that Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe will have a Ballon d’Or duopoly after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

He also follows his local EFL League Two clubs AFC Wimbledon and Sutton United, and spends his free time watching and writing about professional wrestling. He also likes to work out, watch movies and go for night outs.

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