‘I don’t know the rules anymore’ – De Bruyne baffled by handball rule as Laporte strike ruled out in Spurs defeat | OneFootball

Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne outlined his confusion with the current handball rule, after his side were denied an equaliser in the 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

City went behind early on at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium courtesy of a delightful Heung-Min Son effort, yet the visitors thought they’d found a way back into the game after Aymeric Laporte had lashed an effort into the bottom corner.

However, after a VAR review, striker Gabriel Jesus was adjudged to have handled the ball before laying on the assist to the French defender and the goal was subsequently disallowed, with Spurs going to claim all three points after extending their lead through Giovanni Lo Celso midway through the second-half.

That decision came on a day of highly controversial refereeing calls across the Premier League, with Aston Villa’s late penalty overturned, while West Brom also had a spot-kick overturned at Old Trafford, with Manchester United going on to net a penalty of their own after a somewhat harsh handball decision.

Such scenarios have left a number of managers and players scratching their heads and De Bruyne is no different, the 29-year-old expressing his frustration over the current state of affairs regarding the handball rule.

“I don’t know the rules anymore honestly,” De Bruyne told Sky Sports.

“I thought if it’s above the arm here [above the bottom of the sleeve] that it’s not handball anymore. Everybody knows that it hits him here. I don’t know the rules.

“If you will listen tomorrow or the day after they will come on whatever channel and the referee will say it’s a good decision, so it really doesn’t matter.

“I’ve been playing professional football for 12 years and in the first nine years there were no rule changes. Now there are a lot of rule changes.

“I don’t know why. Football is a nice game. The people making the rule changes need to be in the game.”

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