Newcastle United players appealed for a penalty after a shot from Fabian Schar struck Manchester United captain Lisandro Martinez during their match at Old Trafford on Boxing Day
13:53, 27 Dec 2025
Fabian Schar’s shot struck Lisandro Martinez inside the penalty area(Image: Getty Images)
The former Premier League official Keith Hackett believes referee Anthony Taylor was right not to award Newcastle United a penalty for handball by Manchester United captain Lisandro Martinez.
A shot from Fabian Schar struck the United skipper inside the six-yard box. Martinez claimed to Taylor afterwards that the ball actually hit him in the stomach, although replays appeared to show his arm making contact with it.
Video assistant referee Stuart Attwell checked the incident and took no further action. Hackett, as the former general manager of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), has now weighed in on the decision.
Hackett told Football Insider: “The referee has to judge if the action by the player is deliberate when deciding that an offence has taken place, not every time the ball comes into contact, is it an offence. There is sufficient doubt in this action not to award a penalty kick.”
Gary Neville shared at the time his belief that something Martinez did just before the incident stopped a penalty being given. The pundit said during Sky’s commentary: After seeing the ball hit Martinez’s arm, Neville said: “There is a massive shout.
“Schar hits it, his arm is up above his head, and it’s stretched. Is it because he’s pushing [Malick] Thiaw?
“That might just save him. He’s actually wrestling with the other Newcastle centre-back; his arms are already there.
“If Thiaw is nowhere near him, that’s definitely a penalty. I think the fact that he has just had a wrestle with the other centre-back might just save him.
Neville also offered an insight into what the VAR thought about the incident. “He is saying the context is because there’s another situation whereby he is fighting with another player and his arms are already up there and he’s just not got back down.”
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The commentator Peter Drury added: “They are calling it mutual contact between Martinez and Thiaw. And that is essentially the explanation for the fact that there won’t be a penalty.”
Ruben Amorim sung the praises of Martinez after United’s victory. He said: “I think he is a guy with a lot of character. He’s really good on the ball, and that came with the quality that he has.
“He played [in the] World Cup, he won [the] World Cup. He’s used to that stress, and he showed today that he’s a top player, and sometimes people talk about the way he defends the box because he’s a small guy, but today he did really well against a team that just has tall players.”
However, he stopped short of saying the team would be in a better position if he stayed fitter for longer. Amorim instead replied: “No, I don’t want to say that because if we don’t have more points, it’s because of the team, not because of a specific player.”
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