VAR prevented a United injustice, says Gerrard

STEVEN GERRARD believes it would have been an injustice had Manchester United been denied the dramatic last-gasp penalty which gave them the 3-1 win over Paris St Germain and a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Trailing 2-0 from the first leg at Old Trafford, the Red Devils were leading 2-1 going into injury time on Wednesday night when a VAR-awarded spot-kick after Diogo Dalot’s shot struck Presnel Kimpembe on the arm allowed Marcus Rashford to fire in for a dramatic win on away goals.

There were split opinions on the award of the penalty with former Premier League official Peter Walton insisting there was no doubt, while Mark Clattenberg said it would not have been awarded in the domestic competition.

However, Rangers manager Gerrard, a former Liverpool captain, said: “The rules are the rules and we all have to expect that and respect it as well, because the rules are not going to change, certainly during the season.

“When I saw it initially I am thinking the PSG defender was very hard done by, it is very harsh on PSG but if you look at the rules it is the right decision.

“That is the reason why VAR is so important because without it, that probably gets missed and then Manchester United go out the cup which would have been nice from a Liverpool fan’s point of view but it would have been an injustice.”

There was a long delay inside the Parc des Princes as referee Damir Skomina consulted his pitch-side monitor but Gerrard believes the system more often than not arrives at the right decision which is why he would like to see it installed in Scotland.

He said: “VAR gets a lot more things right and accurate which is great for the game.

“I think VAR is certainly the way forward and hopefully one day we can get it into Scottish football.”