The ghost of VAR Christmas past made a surprise appearance when Ait-Nouri, with all the subtlety of a magician palming a coin, appeared to nudge the ball forward with his hand in Manchester City’s Club World Cup clash against Al-Hilal. It took only nine minutes for controversy to rear its shiny, overanalyzed head. The end result? A Bernardo Silva tap-in and a Saudi storm of protests.
Keith Hackett, former PGMOL chief and a man who’s seen more handballs than a kindergarten lunchroom monitor, didn’t mince words. “That’s a handball,” he said, probably while shaking his head at the TV like a disapproving grandfather.
When Ait-Nouri Met Opportunity (And the Ball)
And what started it all was a mouthwatering weighted pass by Tijjani Reijnders, another pimp passing through Al-Hilal defence like hot hummus in warm pita. It might have been inspired by the volleyball season, and Ait-Nouri used his arm to direct the ball into the dangerous area. Chaos ensued. Gundogan, caught in the ricochet, had the ball graze his arm, but even Hackett agreed: the German had all the time in the world to do absolutely nothing about it.
Ait-Nouri and the Law of Unintended Dribbles
Hackett’s beef wasn’t with Gundogan. His critique was aimed squarely at the initial hand-assisted trajectory shift by Ait-Nouri. “It helped him,” Hackett said. And when a hand helps, it’s usually not legal—unless you’re Tom Brady.
The referee, Jesus Valenzuela Saez, remained unconvinced. Perhaps he mistook Ait-Nouri’s move for avant-garde body control. Or maybe, like many of us, he’s just tired of trying to interpret the handball law, which currently reads like Shakespeare reimagined by legal interns.
Nouri’s Sleight of Hand Can’t Stop the Al-Hilal Tsunami
Al Hilal did not just take the sucker punch of the century lying down; they got up, dusted off the injustice, and roared back to win 4-3, with the Cityzens making an early flight out of there. Karma was somewhere in the stands drinking a piña colada.
So, was it cunning or clumsy? Skill or sleight? One thing’s for sure: Ait-Nouri has just entered the pantheon of football’s great handball mysteries—somewhere between Maradona and, well, a shoulder shrug.
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