About the first penalty

The Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai awarded a controversial handball penalty kick to Real Madrid in yesterday's UEFA Champions League Semifinal. David Alaba supposedly played the ball deliberately with his hand.

FIFA Laws of the Game state that "handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with his hand or arm. The referee must take the following into consideration:

• the movement of the hands towards the ball (not the ball towards the hand)
• the distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected ball)
• the position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an infringement"

None of this criteria is fulfilled in this specific case. There is obviously no movement with the hand towards the ball, the distance is small. In addition, one cannot argue that the action of Alaba can be penalized due to an offence of negligence, as the Laws of the Game unambiguosly do not pay attention to this aspect. Hence, there is no deliberation at all.

Therefore, the penalty decision made by Viktor Kassai and probably also the Additional Assistant Referee Tamás Bognar is wrong.