Man Utd escape Atletico goal after VAR intervention

Manchester United were awarded a crucial reprieve when VAR intervened to disallow an Atletico Madrid goal that had appeared to arise from a handball in the build‑up to Johnny Cardoso's first‑half strike, just before the interval.

Handball controversy in the build‑up

Full‑back Marcos Llorente seemed to handle the ball during a clash with Ayden Heaven, before laying it off to his teammate, who then set up Cardoso's effort. The on‑field referee initially signalled a goal, but Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg was instructed by VAR to review the incident on the monitor.

After the review, the decision was overturned and the goal was ruled out for handball. Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg, providing commentary, agreed that the ball had indeed touched Llorente's hand and that the action appeared deliberate.

Reactions from the sidelines

Clattenburg told Amazon Prime, "There's no doubt the ball does touch his hand, the action has to be deliberate because he doesn't score from that action, it's to a teammate." He added that the referee’s discussion with VAR was justified, noting the handball blocked a pass to a Manchester United defender.

Former United star Ashley Young described the disallowed goal as a "sucker punch" for his former club, saying it was better to go into half‑time one‑nil down than two‑nil down and that United were "partly lucky here".

Atletico had taken an early lead after 53 seconds when Alex Baena’s run produced a low drive from Pablo Barrios that slipped past Senne Lammens. Bryan Mbeumo and Marcus Rashford each had chances to equalise, but the match remained one‑goal clear until VAR’s intervention.

The incident was captured in the article’s metadata, which lists Matty Hewitt as the senior sport central audience writer, with the piece posted at 21:01 on 13 Oct 2026. The story includes two images and a "View" tag, reflecting the standard layout of the source.