Former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha has criticised the decision to award Liverpool a penalty during the Community Shield.
Mohamed Salah's cross was met by the head of Darwin Nunez and nodded back towards goal only for the Citizens' defender to stop the effort with an outstretched arm. Referee Craig Pawson didn't notice the incident initially and let play continue before VAR advised him to check the monitor.
At the time, the score was level after Julian Alvarez cancelled out Trent Alexander-Arnold's first-half strike. The Egyptian King stepped up to fire Liverpool back in front but not after the incensed City players protested - with the culprit, Ruben Dias, booked for his complaints - before Nunez added a third in stoppage time.
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"One thing is we're talking about his arm being extended and I think that's his arm being extended," Onuoha told ESPN FC. "When you look at the video replay, the referee sees it, the key thing is the fact that it's in slow motion so all of a sudden it looks worse than it is.
"But for Dias, if he's reacted to a ball like that from him, he's got better reactions than any goalkeeper we've ever seen before - I think he's unlucky because there's nothing else he could've done. Someone might say pull your arm up out the way but if you jump up like this that's an unnatural reaction and the ball has been headed onto his arm in my opinion as opposed to the hand hitting the ball.
"So I think we can say intent doesn't matter but in the laws of the game, intent does matter because it says it's a deliberate thing whereas he's not tried to make himself bigger and he's not tried to stop the ball with his hand. I guess in some ways it's unlucky because at this point what you can you do in this position as a defender?"
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