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CRYSTAL PALACE GOALKEEPER DEAN HENDERSON AVOIDED A RED CARD AFTER A HANDBALL OUTSIDE OF THE BOX WITH ERLING HAALAND BEARING DOWN ON GOAL FOR MANCHESTER CITY AND VAR HAS BEEN TORN TO SHREDS
BY FANS AND PUNDITS 17:39, 17 May 2025Updated 17:54, 17 May 2025 Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson avoided a red card after he handled the ball outside the area in the FA Cup final.
The Eagles keeper was caught in no man's land as Erling Haaland chased a hopeful long ball towards the Palace box. Henderson hesitated before he clawed the ball away from the onrushing
striker with no one inside the ground noticing that the England international actually touched the ball with his arm outside of his 18-yard box. VAR took a look at the incident but no
on-field review was recommended to referee Stuart Attwell and the play continued with Palace 1-0 up, a lead which they took to half-time thanks to Eberechi Eze's 16th minute strike.
Speaking at half-time as a pundit on BBC Sport, Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney slammed the decision, saying: "It's a red card, 100% red card, Haaland is about to knock it
past him - how can they get it wrong?" Fellow pundit Alan Shearer said on the incident: "Dean Henderson was slightly fortunate. The law is that he's running away from goal,
but Henderson's also stopping a possible goal scoring opportunity." Meanwhile, Gary Lineker gave VAR's explanation for not reviewing the handball, they said: "The
direction in which Erling Haaland was going made it possible, but not an obvious goal scoring opportunity." Article continues below The decision not to send Henderson off has been a
crucial one to the game, with the Palace stopper saving Omar Marmoush's penalty ten minutes later. The England international dived away to his right and made a brilliant one-handed stop
to turn away the well-stuck effort. Henderson also came up huge on a number of occasions in the first-half, making a number of other brilliant saves to keep City at bay.