{"id":675287,"date":"2026-01-05T11:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T11:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/675287\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T11:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T11:23:12","slug":"mark-clattenburg-gives-verdict-on-referee-decision-that-went-against-man-united-vs-leeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/675287\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Clattenburg gives verdict on referee decision that went against Man United vs Leeds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Manchester United only claimed one point against Leeds United but it could have been very different without intervention from VAR.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Matheus Cunha was the star<\/a> of the show as Manchester United drew 1-1 with Leeds United<\/a>, with the Brazilian scoring his fourth goal of the season to salvage a point.<\/p>\n

Despite having a very weakened squad, Ruben Amorim can take positives<\/a> from the performance at Elland Road in what was a very fiery clash.<\/p>\n

United pushed for a winner late on but couldn\u2019t find a breakthrough. The Red Devils did have the ball in the back of the net early on, but Cunha\u2019s long-range strike was ruled out as offside.<\/p>\n

\"MatheusPhoto by Darren Staples \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

United thought for a brief moment that they had taken the lead in Yorkshire when Benjamin Sesko flicked on a header to Casemiro and he set up Cunha for a looping half-volley.<\/p>\n

Cunha\u2019s shot beat Leeds goalkeeper Lucas Perri and rippled the back of the net, but it was quickly disallowed by referee Jarred Gillett.<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively to United in Focus<\/strong>, former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg<\/a> gave his verdict on the decision.<\/p>\n

SHOULD Matheus Cunha\u2019s disallowed goal vs Leeds have stood?\ud83e\udd14 <\/p>\n

Mark Clattenburg explains to United in Focus why the goal was ruled offside\u2026<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe offside flag was raised to disallow the goal as Sesko was in an offside position. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf Sesko had not gone to challenge his opponent for the ball even though he did not touch it, he clearly affected the defender\u2019s\u00a0ability to play the ball with contact being made, then a goal may have been awarded.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"MatheusPhoto by Molly Darlington\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n

\u201cManchester United thought they had broken the deadlock against Leeds United when Matheus Cunha scored,\u201d Clattenburg said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe offside flag was raised to disallow the goal as Sesko was in an offside position. Even though Sesko did not touch it, he clearly affected the defender\u2019s ability to play the ball with contact being made.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he had not gone to challenge his opponent, then a goal may have been awarded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Man United did not take their chances vs Leeds<\/p>\n

Manchester United missing big chances has already become a frustrating theme for supporters this season.<\/p>\n

Sesko missed a huge opportunity in the second half from close range, while Leny Yoro forced a fantastic save from Perri in the first half.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Forget Matheus Cunha, Owen Hargreaves was more blown away by \u2018dangerous\u2019 Man Utd ace in 1-1 Leeds draw<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cunha also clipped the outside of the post in the second half, denying him his second goal of the game.<\/p>\n

United had 13 shots in total, but only managed two on target which will be a huge source of frustration for Amorim.<\/p>\n

Join Our Newsletter <\/p>\n

Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United only claimed one point against Leeds United but it could have been very different without intervention…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[2915,94,44091,101,79,16,15,16263],"class_list":{"0":"post-675287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-exclusive","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-mark-clattenburg","11":"tag-premier-league","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-var"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115842240062793301","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}