Why PSG should not have been awarded a penalty in the Champions League final

Paris Saint-Germain’s penalty in the second half of the Champions League final against Arsenal has sparked debate, not because of the foul itself, but because of what happened moments earlier.

According to former FIFA referee Eduardo Iturralde González, our resident ref, PSG player Khvicha Kvaratskhelia should not have been on the field when referee Daniel Siebert awarded PSG the penalty following Cristhian Mosquera’s challenge.

Why PSG should not have been awarded a penalty

The incident came during the second half of the final between Luis Enrique’s PSG and Arsenal. Kvaratskhelia went down inside the area after contact from Mosquera, and Siebert pointed straight to the spot.

While Iturralde had no issue with the referee’s decision to award the penalty, he highlighted a detail he believes was overlooked.

“Kvaratskhelia shouldn’t have been playing because he’d been bleeding from his leg for several minutes. The referee let it go,” Iturralde said, referring to a visible wound on the Georgian winger that had been causing him to bleed in the minutes leading up to the penalty incident.

Under the Laws of the Game, a player who is bleeding must leave the field of play and cannot return until the bleeding has stopped and the wound has been properly covered.

As a result, Iturralde argued that Kvaratskhelia should have been temporarily removed from the game before the penalty sequence ever took place.

PSG’s stonewall penalty against Arsenal

On the challenge itself, however, the former referee was unequivocal.

“The penalty is as clear as they come. It’s the kind of foul you see in youth soccer. Where is the defender going?” he said.

Iturralde also explained the decision not to caution Mosquera for the challenge. The Arsenal defender was already on a yellow card, but the officiating analyst believes the incident did not meet the criteria for a second booking.

“It’s not a cautionable offense because it wasn’t an obvious goal-scoring opportunity,” he explained.

The penalty itself was scored by Dembele to level the game at 1-1.

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