Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta was allowed to re-take his penalty against Manchester United despite getting a double touch on his initial effort, due to a recent rule change by the International Football Board Association (IFAB) concerning unintentional errors.
According to a report from FourFourTwo.com, Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta was granted a highly unusual opportunity to re-take a penalty against Manchester United after the VAR system intervened.
The 28-year-old had won the spot-kick against Leny Yoro and stepped up to convert, but VAR spotted that the Frenchman had “struck the ball twice, kicking it with his right foot into his left foot.”
Instead of automatically ruling out the goal and awarding the defending team a free-kick—as occurred in a similar Champions League incident involving Julian Alvarez last season—Mateta was given another chance by the officials, which he successfully converted.
The reason for the retake lies in a specific rule adjustment introduced over the summer by the IFAB, the body that controls the Laws of the Game.
Previously, Law 14 stated that the kicker could not play the ball again until it had touched another player.
The updated rule now permits a re-take where the “double touch was clearly unintentional,” as judged by the officials in Mateta’s case.
This change was brought in on July 1 to prevent penalizing a player for an accidental incident when they are not attempting to gain an “unfair advantage.”
The report notes that while the update is viewed as a “fair update to the rules,” the defending team, Manchester United, may understandably “feel slightly aggrieved that Mateta gets to correct a mistake of his own making.”