00:00Why did this challenge, which left Kylian Mbappe with blood on his face, not result in a Real Madrid penalty?
00:06Real Madrid's title hopes took a massive hit on Friday with a 1-1 draw against Girona, a game that
00:11ended in controversy.
00:13Here's what happened. In the 88th minute, Mbappe made a darting run into the Girona box, where he collided with
00:18defender Vito Raiz.
00:20As you can see, Mbappe was left bleeding from the collision, but the referee decided not to award a penalty.
00:26VAR did not intervene, and Girona held out for a point.
00:30So, why no penalty?
00:32For incidents like this, the IFAB rules use the phrase careless, reckless, or using excessive force.
00:38Essentially, the question is, was Raiz doing something particularly dangerous, or was it just an unfortunate clash between two players?
00:45Now, the first thing to say is that it's Mbappe who makes the driving run towards Raiz, which first initiates
00:51the contact.
00:51However, Raiz does clearly raise his arm as Mbappe hits into him, and it looks like it's that arm which
00:57leaves Mbappe with a cut to his face.
00:58So, the decision for the referee is whether that arm movement is a natural part of balancing himself after contact,
01:05or whether it is careless, reckless, excessive, and warrants punishment.
01:09On this occasion, the referee thought that it did not meet the threshold, and did not point to the spot.
01:14So, what do you think?
01:16Was it just an unfortunate accident, or was it a dangerous challenge that went unpunished?
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