After Luke Shaw reveals Stuart Attwell ‘told Maguire it was a penalty’, Solskjaer hits out at Chelsea & opposing managers

The controversy stemming from the meeting between Chelsea and Manchester United has continued post-match, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer having refused to bite his tongue during an entertaining post-match interview.

Spoils shared

The marquee fixture of the Premier League weekend of course played out at Stamford Bridge a short time ago.

The clash in question saw Chelsea play host to Man United, in a crunch showdown in the race for a top-4 berth.

The sides headed into proceedings separated by 6 points in the English top-flight table, with Solskjaer’s visitors having of course been in possession of the advantage.

And, when all was said and done, the gap between the clubs remained intact.

A hard-fought affair in the capital eventually saw Chelsea and United cancel each other out, en route to a 0-0 stalemate.

The evening’s best chance fell to Hakim Ziyech, but the Moroccan, who was favoured to Timo Werner by Thomas Tuchel versus United, saw his effort from the middle of the area well saved by David de Gea:

ANOTHER CHANCE FOR CHELSEA! 🔵

Chilwell breaks down the left and cuts it back for Ziyech who tests de Gea, but the Spaniard gets a strong hand to it.

📺 Watch on Sky Sports PL
📱 Follow #CHEMUN here: https://t.co/EXE7ptou1X
📲 Download the @SkySports app! pic.twitter.com/i7yDQH9BWf

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 28, 2021

‘Told it was a penalty’

The lack of goals at the Bridge, however, did not translate to a lack of controversy stemming from Sunday’s clash.

In fact, quite the opposite proved to be the case.

The one major talking point arrived 15 minutes in, when Manchester United, following a VAR check, were denied a penalty for what they viewed as a clear Callum Hudson-Odoi handball in the hosts’ box:

NO PENALTY ❌⚽️

The ball strikes Hudson-Odoi’s hand in the box and Stuart Attwell consults the pitch-side monitor before deciding against awarding the penalty.

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📱 Follow #CHEMUN here: https://t.co/EXE7ptou1X
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— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 28, 2021

Referee Stuart Attwell, at the time, was said to have come to the conclusion that Hudson-Odoi had in fact not moved his arm towards the ball:

The penalty wasn’t awarded because Stuart Attwell felt that Callum Hudson-Odoi didn’t move his arm towards the ball. 🤷#CHEMUN pic.twitter.com/Enzywp8eBe

— Dale Johnson (@DaleJohnsonESPN) February 28, 2021

Post-match comments on the part of Luke Shaw, however, told an altogether different story.

Speaking in an interview with Sky Sports, the United left-back revealed that Attwell had in fact informed Harry Maguire that he didn’t award the spot-kick in an attempt to avoid a post-match fallout surrounding the incident:

‘If it’s not going to be a penalty, l don’t think they needed to stop the game.’

‘The ref even said to H [Harry Maguire] that if I say it is a pen then it is going to cause a lot of talk afterwards. H got told it was a penalty.’

Shaw continued:

‘I don’t understand why the game is stopped. It’s confusing with VAR.’

‘I’m not going to moan about it because l don’t think either team did enough to win.’

🗣 “The ref said to H [Harry] If I say it’s a pen it’s going to cause a lot of talk about it after.”

Luke Shaw on the handball that wasn’t given as a penalty pic.twitter.com/NcAxMOhJHk

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 28, 2021

‘Influencing the referees’

As outlined above, however, Shaw is not the only individual of a United persuasion to have made his frustrations with the evening’s key decision going against the Reds crystal clear following the full-time whistle at Stamford Bridge.

The other? Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

When drawn on the penalty incident during his own post-match interview, Norwegian tactician Solskjaer first revealed his opinion that the incident was clear as day:

‘No, not whatsoever, not at all [can’t understand why penalty wasn’t given]. Especially when he stops it and walks over to watch it. From here [pitch side] you can see it’s a handball but you think it’s our player who does it.’

When pressed on Attwell’s aforementioned comments to Harry Maguire, the United boss continued:

‘I can’t say, because that’s not going to be good for him. Of course it is [concerning] — I didn’t say it, I don’t want to cause controversy. It’s not right is it?’

Solskjaer, from here on in, however, was done biting his tongue, first alluding to a pre-match post on Chelsea’s official website, which suggested that Harry Maguire has ‘survived’ a number of questionable VAR calls this season:

‘It’s all these outside influences. Even the VAR talk before the game on Harry [Maguire]. That’s cheeky when they [Chelsea] put that on their website. That’s influencing the referees.’

The tactician then continued his rant against ‘outside influences’, explaining:

‘We’ve seen… Was it Frank [Lampard] who started it? There’s loads of talk about us getting penalties when there is no doubt whatsoever and now of course we should have had a penalty. That’s as clear as it is.’

Check out Solskjaer’s explosive interview in full below:

🗣 “It’s all these outside influences, it’s cheeky when they put that on their website, that’s influencing the referees. You can read it.” 😡

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer vents his frustrations about the penalty that wasn’t given pic.twitter.com/7YK22ja6Oo

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 28, 2021

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This article was edited by Josh Barker.

Source: 101greatgoals.com