Mark Clattenburg has issued his expert opinion after what he witnessed Lucas Paqueta do in the game between West Ham United and Brighton.
West Ham played host to Brighton at the London Stadium and were held to a 2-2 draw by the Seagulls despite twice taking the lead.
Jarrod Bowen and Paqueta scored for the Hammers while Danny Welbeck and Joel Veltman found the back of the net for the visitors.
Points shared at the London Stadium ❌
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Lucas Paqueta gives away needless penalty by foul on Lewis Dunk
The Brazil international was tasked to defend the corner and man-mark Lewis Dunk to prevent him from getting a header on goal.
Dunk is known to be prolific in the air, while Paqueta is anything but, making it a physical mismatch.
What the Hammers’ attacking midfielder was expected to do was to make it difficult for Dunk to make contact with the ball.
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However, what he ended up doing was wrestling with the Brighton centre-back before bringing him to the ground.
All of this happened right in front of Michael Salisbury, who pointed to the spot.
Fortunately for the hosts, Welbeck missed the penalty, ensuring the score remained 1-1 at the time.
Mark Clattenburg delivers verdict on Paqueta giving away a penalty
Clattenburg, a former Premier League and FIFA referee, took a good look at the entire incident and could not see anything else apart from a penalty to Brighton.
He believes that Salisbury was in a good position to look at it, making his decision easier to make.
While Clattenburg claims that a yellow card could have been awarded, he felt that a penalty was already awarded and the referee did not want to give anything more.
He told Hammers News exclusively: “Lucas Paqueta’s foul on Lewis Dunk was an easy one for the referee if he is looking at it.
“After the corner is taken, Paqueta is not looking at the ball and puts both his arms around the body of Dunk and wrestles him to the ground.
“Michael Salisbury, the referee, was looking straight at the incident and correctly awarded the penalty.
“A yellow card could have been shown, but the referee accepted that this incident was only worthy of a penalty kick only, which I can accept as Premier League referees like to manage situations more than their counterparts around Europe.”
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