{"id":465967,"date":"2025-08-18T22:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T22:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=465967"},"modified":"2025-08-18T23:14:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T23:14:30","slug":"scandal-as-late-penalty-decision-splits-pundits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=465967","title":{"rendered":"'Scandal' as late penalty decision splits pundits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leeds United made a dream return to the Premier League with a deserved 1-0 home victory \ufeffover Everton at Elland Road on Tuesday (AEST).<\/a><\/p>\n

Leeds debutant Lukas Nmecha slotted home a confident penalty in the 84th minute to separate the teams after the officials found James Tarkowski guilty of handball following a deflected shot.<\/p>\n

"That's a scandal. That's never a penalty," former England international Chris Sutton said on the BBC.<\/p>\n

Football has a new home. Stream the Premier League, FA Cup, J.League and NWSL live & on demand,<\/strong><\/em> including<\/strong><\/em> Premier League with 4K, from August 2025 on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/1957547209895170107<\/a><\/p>\n

But former Leeds star \ufeffMichael Bridges saw it differently on Stan Sport's coverage.<\/p>\n

"You'll see him lean into it. And he's trying to get his chest up," Bridges said.<\/p>\n

"I know as a defender he's trying to get his arm out of the way, but it has struck the arm and it is a target, and he was leaning in that direction, trying to get his chest to it."<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Goalkeeper's 'bluff' called in sneaky water bottle trick<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Inside the commentary booth as stony-faced greats grappled disbelief<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Slater warns of 'dangerous territory' amid Grant furore<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

Everton manager David Moyes had words with referee Chris Kavanagh\ufeff – who awarded the penalty before being checked by VAR – after the final whistle.<\/p>\n

Leeds were promoted into the top flight after winning the Championship last season.<\/p>\n

"They're going to be a force in the Premier League if they keep playing like that," Liverpool legend Michael Owen said on Stan Sport's coverage.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Manchester City star Jack Grealish \ufeffmade his Everton debut off the bench after being loaned out to the Liverpool club.<\/p>\n

The forward, a poster boy of English football, is looking to reignite his career but was unable to inspire Everton.<\/p>\n

Grealish entered in the 71st minute when the score was 0-0 and struggled to make an impact.<\/p>\n

\"Jack<\/p>\n

Leeds dominated the first half in front of a raucous Elland Road crowd, but wasted a host of chances to break the deadlock.<\/p>\n

Everton, on the other hand, did not muster a single shot, on or off target, in the opening period.<\/p>\n

Tarkowski was filthy afterwards.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/1957563380274987253<\/a><\/p>\n

"Absolutely bizarre, bizarre," he said on Stan Sport's coverage.<\/p>\n

"I always thought the rule was 'arm in an unnatural position', which it definitely wasn't. It was by my side.<\/p>\n

"So unless they've got a new rule about leaning to block a ball, I don't know. But if that's the reason to give it, I can't understand it. I asked the referee on the pitch, 'if my hand's by my side, is it a penalty?', He said 'no'.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/1957556068785222084<\/a><\/p>\n

"He didn't give it, the linesman gives it from 40 yards away. How you can see whether my arms are half an inch away or not from where he stood, I don't know.<\/p>\n

"Bizarre, bizarre decision and I don't understand why it's been given.<\/p>\n

"Unless I have to run around like the European style, with my hands on my back… that's not something I'm ever going to do because it's not easy to move like that.<\/p>\n

\"Lukas<\/p>\n

Lukas Nmecha, a summer signing only on the field for six minutes as a substitute, stroked the spot kick past Jordan Pickford with just his third touch of the ball.<\/p>\n

Leeds was making its return to the Premier League after a two-year absence and was the second promoted team to win in the opening round, after Sunderland.<\/p>\n

Everton, which failed to have a shot on goal in the first half, will hope for a better performance on Sunday when the team hosts Brighton for the first competitive game in its new, 53,000-seat waterfront stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, which has replaced Goodison Park as Everton's home.<\/p>\n

\"Rapid<\/p>\n

– with Reuters\ufeff and AP<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leeds United made a dream return to the Premier League with a deserved 1-0 home victory \ufeffover Everton at Elland Road on Tuesday (AEST). Leeds […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":465971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465967"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=465967"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465980,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465967\/revisions\/465980"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/465971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=465967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=465967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=465967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}