Everton 0-1 Man City: Many fans raging after Rodri 'handball' in Premier League clash | OneFootball

Manchester City had to fight incredibly hard for their latest three points in the Premier League title race.

Despite it looking at one point as though the Citizens were nailed on to conquer England for the fourth time in five seasons, Liverpool have now moved within touching distance of Pep Guardiola’s side.

In fact, City knew going into their trip to Goodison Park on Saturday evening that anything other than a victory would leave the door wide open for Liverpool to narrow the gap down from three points.

Controversy in Everton vs Man City

And Guardiola was very nearly staring at the possibility of exactly that as the champions entered the final exchanges on Merseyside with the scores locked at 0-0.

However, when you have as much quality in your squad as City do, then there’s always a chance that the goal will come eventually and Phil Foden just happened to be the man who provided the finishing touch.

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And for all the incredible resolve that Frank Lampard’s men had shown throughout the game, you’d have been forgiven for thinking that City scoring in the final 10 minutes would have completely winded them.

Alas, that wasn’t to be the case with countless fans opining that Everton should have had the chance to equalise from 12 yards when they looked to have a great shout for a late penalty.

Everton 0-1 Man City Match Reaction (Football Terrace)

Rodri ‘handball’ incident

Social media was alive with debate and outrage when Rodri was deemed not to have handled the ball in City’s box by either the on-field officials or VAR in what many thought to be a wildly incorrect decision.

The handball rule is divisive and nebulas at the best of times, but when it’s a particularly weighty call within the context of a title race, then you can guarantee that it will be scrutinised even more heavily.

However, never mind what fans, pundits and players might be thinking about the incident, be sure to make your own mind up about Rodri’s ‘handball’ by checking out the footage down below:

Handball or not? It’s certainly controversial.

Fans outraged on Twitter

Well, ok, extremely controversial because you only had to close your eyes and swing a stick on Twitter to bump into hundreds and thousands of posts raging about the fact that Everton weren’t awarded a penalty.

It’s fair to say there are some unhappy campers there…

Small margins, big impacts

Simon Bajkowski of the Manchester Evening News later cleared up the situation by reporting that the Premier League were saying that VAR didn’t have enough evidence that Rodri’s touch fit the criteria of a handball.

Nevertheless, it’s easy to see why so many supporters were angry about the decision regardless of whether the laws of game come to its defence or not because it could have massive ramifications for the title race.

The definition and interpretation of Rodri’s interaction with the ball ultimately decided that Everton wouldn’t have an excellent chance to draw level and therefore City could hold on to all three points.

In a world where the Toffees were indeed given a spot-kick that they duly converted, then Liverpool would have the chance to move within a single point of their rivals when they play West Ham United.

However, that world simply doesn’t exist and everyone from Kopites to generally outraged fans will just have to find solace in the fact that Rodri’s ‘handball’ wasn’t a handball by the letter of the law.