Rio Ferdinand believed it was a penalty against Bayern Munich

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand sprayed the referee who led the Arsenal and Bayern Munich match in the UCL clash on Tuesday night (09th April 2024). The 45-year-old United legend considered that the Gunners should have received a penalty in that match. The incident in question occurred at the end of the match of the UCL first leg at Arsenal Stadium. At that time, the 22-year-old right winger Bukayo Saka rushed into Bayern's penalty box.

The 38-year-old German goalkeeper Neuer stepped forward and then stretched out his legs to block Saka. However, Neuer's bow did not hit the ball and instead hit the winger and he fell in the forbidden box. The referee did not give the Gunners a penalty, the referee didn't even check the VAR first regarding the incident. To TNT Sports, Ferdinand admitted he was surprised the referee did not give Arsenal a penalty for the incident. He considered that Neuer had committed a foul on Saka and they should have received a penalty.

"How is it possible that the referee didn't give a penalty [to Arsenal]? I can't believe the Gunners weren't given a penalty! It was clearly a penalty, and I really can't understand why they weren't given that penalty," said Ferdinand. Furthermore, Ferdinand gave credit to Arsenal and Mikel Arteta. He considered the manager successful in making Arsenal perform well in this match. "Arsenal played very well today. They fought until the end to win this match," continued Ferdinand. "Mikel Arteta deserves credit for this result because he made a very clever substitution," he concluded. Arsenal will play one more match before playing the second leg against Bayern next week.

The Gunners are scheduled to face Aston Villa this weekend in the 2023/2024 EPL.