Yes, it was handball, but impossible to spot
YOU can argue Willy Boly’s handball is not deliberate, but it never feels right that a player can use his arm or hand to score a goal, especially as he changed the direction of the ball and gained an advantage by doing so. It should have been a free-kick to Manchester City. It is difficult, however, to attach blame to referee Martin Atkinson. For starters, it looked like a perfectly good goal on first viewing. He also has several players blocking his view and must rely on his assistant to make the call. The assistant, in his defence, is also checking for offside and it looks like Matt Doherty does make slight contact with the ball. It is a tight decision as Benjamin Mendy’s foot could still be playing Boly onside, so the benefit must go to the attacking team. But the key here is that a handball goal was missed and it is yet another example of the need for technology to assist the officiating team, because I think it was near enough impossible for them to see this in real time.