Unfinished business: Manchester United's latest move to the referee after being denied a penalty, resulting in a draw with Bournemouth in the Premier League.
On 21 March 2026, the Daily Mail, a leading UK media outlet, reported that Manchester United, a prominent Premier League club, is preparing to file an official complaint with the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) over questionable refereeing in their recent match.
Manchester United slipped up by only managing a 2-2 draw against Bournemouth in the Premier League last Friday night. The key turning point came in the 67th minute when the Red Devils, leading 1-0, were denied a penalty after Amad Diallo was obstructed inside the penalty area while attempting to score.
However, referee Stuart Attwell did not award a penalty and signaled for Bournemouth to continue. Shortly after, Adrien Truffert, who had blocked Amad Diallo, advanced and assisted Ryan Christie to equalize 1-1.
Additionally, there was a comparison to a similar incident where Harry Maguire fouled Evanilson but was penalized with a penalty and a red card in the 78th minute. Bournemouth converted the penalty through Eli Junior Krupiy to level at 2-2 in the 81st minute, and the match ended in a draw with Manchester United sharing one point.
Most recently, the Daily Mail reported that senior Manchester United officials believe the foul on Amad was clear. They argue that if a penalty had been awarded, Bruno Fernandes would likely have scored his second spot-kick, putting Michael Carrick's team 2-0 up in the second half, but within a minute the score was level again.
"United have submitted a complaint to Howard Webb, head referee of the PGMOL, after identifying 'numerous errors' that cost them crucial points," the report stated.
"Those errors include not sending off Nathan Collins of Brentford for clearly denying a goal-scoring opportunity—similar to the offense that got Maguire a red card at Vitality Stadium—failing to award a penalty to Wolves, and disallowing Lisandro Martinez's goal in the 2-2 draw with Burnley, which they believe should have stood. Stuart Attwell was the referee again at Turf Moor for that match."
