Gary Lineker leads social media outrage after Jerome Boateng's handball goes unpunished

Gary Lineker led the calls for a return of VAR after officials failed to use the technology to check whether Erling Haaland's strike had hit the arm of Jerome Boateng in Borussia Dortmund's loss to Bayern Munich.

The German defender turned his back to Erling Haaland's shot, with the effort appearing to hit the centre back's elbow before being consequently deflected wide.

VAR did not intervene after the incident had occurred, with Dortmund seemingly keen to press on in search of an equaliser. In the end they lost 1-0 and it proved a key moment.

But there was outrage on social media at the referee's failure to award Dortmund a spot-kick and a chance to level the score after Joshua Kimmich's sublime lobbed opener.

The criticism was led by Match of the Day presenter Lineker, who said: 'Penalty? VAR?' before tweeting a video of the incident to show the moment of contention.

Many agreed with the former England star, with another Twitter user saying: 'Surely that's a handball from Boateng? Stops Haaland from scoring.'

Other viewers were also disappointed that VAR did not step in to review the decision, with another writing: 'The fact that Boateng 's elbow to the ball wasn't even REVIEWED for a possible penalty is an abomination !!!!!!!!!'

Another Twitter user, however, claimed that the absence of fans inside Signal Iduna Park contributed to the handball not being reviewed.

The user wrote:  'With a crowd imploring for a penalty for every single block, guarantee you refs go to VAR for the Boateng block.

'Players would have likely paused and forced a replay as well. Interesting to see how the absence of fans has had an impact on even the slightest of details.'

Former BT Sport commentator Derek Rae provided possibly the most balanced argument of the night.

He wrote: 'Not sure it’s a stonewall penalty, but can video assistant intervene? Yes, but falls within the grey zone.

'Fact is BVB got on with the game before it could really be examined. Clear and obvious error though? Would say no.'

Bayern's win over Dortmund saw them go seven points clear at the top of the table, putting a severe dent in Lucien Favre's men's title hopes.

For Hansi Flick's side, they are now in control of sealing an eighth consecutive title.

Source: m.allfootballapp.com