Everton should have had penalty against Man Utd for Matthijs de Ligt shirt pull on Ashley Young, says Dermot Gallagher

Everton should have kept a last-minute penalty for Matthijs de Ligt's shirt pull on Ashley Young during the 2-2 draw with Manchester United, according to former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher.

INCIDENT: There was huge late controversy at Goodison Park where Everton were awarded a stoppage-time penalty to have the chance to win their game against Manchester United - only for VAR to intervene.

Andy Madley was sent to the screen and changed his mind. He studied contact from Harry Maguire on Young - but did the officials miss a shirt pull from De Ligt?

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DERMOT SAYS: "For me, the best solution is stick with the referee and VAR not to get involved. Once VAR got involved it raised a number of issues that didn't really need raising.

"I think the referee gave the penalty against Maguire. I don't think Maguire has fouled him but De Ligt has got hold of his shirt for long enough to give the penalty.

"The ref has said to VAR he's given a penalty because he thinks Maguire has pulled his shirt. The VAR has looked and said no.

"If he sees an offence he thinks is a penalty he can give a penalty. Most penalties given that the ref doesn't see on the field are what a VAR spots that the ref doesn't. Surely this falls into the same bracket.

"They got so bogged down in looking at the Maguire one, De Ligt got washed away."

'Madley was never shown the right angle by VAR'

More from Dermot Gallagher on Ref Watch:

"The best angle is from the goalkeeper's view, through the net, and you see De Ligt pulling him.

"What they showed him was that [side-on] angle over and over again.

"If the ref had been shown the through the net angle, he'd have stuck with his decision."

Warnock: VAR double standards got it all wrong

Sky Sports News' Steven Warnock:

"In the same game, you've got the Beto goal which they forensically go through. They're looking for three or four incidents to wipe the goal out, or find something wrong with it.

"I feel like every time we look at a goal, we're looking at why the goal was ruled out - he's onside, but okay, was there something else in there?

"You look at the penalty and you say why don't you look at every single angle? The three images they show the referee are of the first incident where you can only see Harry Maguire.

"Flip it round, go round the back, and we're all sat at home asking where the one is from behind the goal showing the Matthijs De Ligt shirt pull.

"If they're only looking at Harry Maguire, they've got it completely wrong. It is a penalty, there's definite pulls on the shirt."

Sky Sports News' Sue Smith:

"There's a lot of very frustrated Evertonians out there after this game. First of all, why did VAR get involved, it's not a clear and obvious error.

"We've seen there's no foul from Maguire, but there's a clear shirt pull from De Ligt. Some people have said Young dives, but he's got to go down and otherwise he doesn't get the decision.

"If he doesn't do it, he doesn't get the penalty."

(c) Sky Sports 2025: Everton should have had penalty against Man Utd for Matthijs de Ligt shirt pull on Ashley Young, says Dermot Gallagher