A new angle reveals why Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal against Newcastle should have stood
Cristiano Ronaldo’s disallowed goal for  Manchester United against Newcastle on Sunday should have stood, according to a new angle.
Ronaldo scored twice in a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford, the first when he was correctly flagged offside as he linked up with Jadon Sancho and rolled the ball in with his left foot.
However, controversy erupted seconds later when Newcastle was awarded a free kick.
Ronaldo felt the free-kick had been taken and decided to nip in and slot into an empty net after Fabian Schar touched the ball back to Nick Pope.
He and his United teammates immediately raged at the referee for denying the strike, and Ronaldo was booked for his actions in protesting the decision.
Footage posted online from the stands shows Craig Pawson, the man in the middle, blowing the whistle before Ronaldo intervened.
During the stalemate, United also had two penalty appeals turned down, one on Ronaldo and one on Jadon Sancho.
Erik ten Hag later refused to comment on the disallowed Ronaldo strike, saying, “I don’t have a comment, everyone has seen it.
“I shared that with them (the officials). Everyone has seen what happened today on the pitch.”
However, from the perspective of Newcastle, the ball was not in play when Ronaldo tried his luck.
Although Schar had touched the ball when the whistle blew, manager Eddie Howe believes he was simply passing the ball back to Pope so that he could take the free-kick.
Howe said had it been allowed to stand, it would have been a “very difficult goal to swallow”.
“I could see it at the time, and for me it was clear Fabi wasn’t taking the kick,” he told media in his post-match presser.
“He was allowing Nick to do it. I don’t know if the ref had blown his whistle, but I don’t think he had to restart play.
“For me, it was clear that Nick was waiting to actually deliver the free-kick and then, obviously, Ronaldo had taken the ball off him. It would have been a very, very difficult goal to swallow if it had stood. For me it was clear the ball it wasn’t in play.”
A new angle reveals why Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal against Newcastle should have stood
