Should Bayern Munich have had a penalty for Arsenal’s Gabriel picking up the ball?

By
James BAOUCH
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As the final whistle blew on an action-packed 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium last night, many of us reached for our smartphones to check social media.

Moments before, Arsenal attacker Bukayo Saka found himself in a potential tie-changing moment. With just Manuel Neuer to beat inside the box, the Bayern Munich goalkeeper tripped him (or, some argue, had his leading leg kicked by Saka) and everyone looked towards the referee, Glenn Nyberg. With seconds remaining of stoppage time, Arsenal’s hopes of travelling to Munich for the second leg with a lead rested on the referee’s shoulders.

The decision not to award a penalty left Rio Ferdinand, a pundit for TNT Sports, the British broadcaster of the Champions League, in “disbelief”. However, Arsenal legend Ian Wright later argued on X that he agreed with Nyberg’s decision, sparking a debate.

This decision fell to the referee for his interpretation: some might have given it and others might not. Given its contentious nature, VAR was never likely to overturn it and judging by the range of opinions from Arsenal fans and others, the Swedish referee’s decision was at least justifiable.

But as the post-match interviews filtered in, the Saka debate faded into the background…

There was another penalty decision barely remarked upon in real-time earlier in the game — a decision Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel said Nyberg did not have the “courage” to award in his team’s favour.

This happened in the 67th minute of the match, with Bayern leading 2-1. After the referee blew the whistle to indicate the restart of play from a goal-kick situation, Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya played a short square pass to his defender Gabriel.

Gabriel picked the ball up with his hands and set it down again inside the six-yard box, seemingly not realising play was now live.

Immediately after Gabriel handled the ball, Bayern attackers Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala turned towards the referee and asked for a penalty, pointing towards their arms to indicate a handball. However, Nyberg swiftly waved away their claims.

He then played a short pass back to the goalkeeper, after which play continued as normal.

 

The handball rules used by UEFA state it is a handball if a player “deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving their hand/arm towards the ball or touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger”.

UEFA declined The Athletic’s approach for comment.

Given the play was live when Gabriel picked up the ball, the decision to award a penalty might be considered as clear as any for the referee. According to Tuchel, this was not an occasion when the referee’s interpretation of the rules was necessary.

“I think the referee did not have the courage today to give a deserved penalty,” said Tuchel. “It was a bit of a crazy and awkward situation, but he admitted on the pitch that he saw the situation and that a quarter-final was not enough for him to give a hand penalty for a kid’s mistake. He admitted he knew about the mistake the player made. It’s a bit frustrating.”

Bayern forward Thomas Muller echoed his manager’s thoughts and wondered why a spot kick wasn’t given. “The referee saw what happened clearly but felt it was too stupid a mistake, too small to give a pen,” he said. “I can understand that in terms of the game, but it’s not down to him to decide that.”

The debate lies in their comments, with Tuchel conceding it was a “crazy and awkward situation” and Muller acknowledging the “terms of the game” regarding Nyberg not awarding a penalty.

According to IFAB’s handball law, there should be no debate; it is 100 per cent a penalty. The ball was live and Gabriel “deliberately touched the ball with his hand” inside the box. If football was a sport to be followed by the letter of the law without human interpretation, the referee would have given the penalty without question and there would have been little room for debate afterwards.

However, as FIFA match official and rules analyst Christina Unkel told CBS Sports, there is a time and place where “common sense” should prevail.

“If you are arguing for this to be a penalty kick, with all due respect, you hate football,” said Unkel. “Here, we have to use common sense and (the so-called) Law 18. At no point was any advantage taken away from Bayern in this situation and, most importantly, it was just an honest and legitimate mistake. There was no reason why the defender would have picked up the ball and placed it, aside from the fact he never heard the whistle in the first place.”

There is no Law 18 in IFAB’s Laws of The Game, but in the introduction it says: “Referees are expected to use common sense and to apply the ‘spirit of the game’ when applying the Laws of the Game.” For that reason, the use of common sense has become almost an unwritten law — hence Unkel referring to Law 18. On this occasion, it comes to Arsenal’s rescue. Gabriel is under no pressure from Musiala or Kane, who are both positioned outside the 18-yard box, and the Brazil international has time and space to find a pass. He makes no progression with his return pass to Raya (in fact, he returns the ball to the six-yard line and passes square), a pass he could easily have made before handling the ball.

Despite the former Arsenal defender Martin Keown saying Nyberg was “out of his depth” for not awarding this or the foul on Saka as penalties, it would have been a shame for an honest mistake, done at nobody’s advantage or disadvantage, to have had such an influence on a Champions League quarter-final.

This was Nyberg’s first-ever Champions League knockout match, having overseen six group-stage ties since being given his Champions League debut last season. Among these was Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium in October.

The 35-year-old made his domestic debut a decade ago in the Allsvenskan, Sweden’s top flight. Since then, he has officiated 225 first-division matches, including IFK’s 2-1 victory over Malmo in the Swedish Cup final. His career has also taken him to the international stage, where he was appointed as the referee for the 2023 Under-20 World Cup final, as Uruguay lifted the trophy for the first time.

“We know that as referees, every decision we make could make someone unhappy and won’t be applauded all around. That’s just the job and you need to be mentally strong,” he told the UEFA website last year. “I like to speak with players to tell them how I see things. Communication can also be in your body language. I always prefer to stay calm with players and then if I am calm, hopefully, they will give me calmness back.”

He displayed that calmness last night in confidently waving away two potential penalties.

A match decided by exciting football, not contentious refereeing decisions.

Is that not what we want?

(Top photo: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)



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