Chris Smalling 'handball': Man Utd loanee trolled by Monchengladbach after poor penalty call

Roma lead Group J with five points
AFP via Getty Images
Tom Dutton25 October 2019

Borussia Monchengladbach trolled Chris Smalling after the Manchester United loanee conceded a controversial penalty deep into stoppage time to cost Roma victory in their Europa League Group J clash.

The Bundesliga side were awarded the late spot-kick for handball by referee Scottish referee Willie Collum as Smalling challenged for a high ball late on in their 1-1 draw in Rome.

Roma had led 1-0 from the 32nd minute and Monchengladbach's late equaliser was a difficult one to swallow given replays showed the ball had actually cannoned off Smalling's face and bounced away.

Monchengladbach, who sealed just their second point from three games in this season's campaign, poked fun at Smalling after the game. Alongside a cartoon of a character with a hand for a head, they asked: "Too soon?"

Roma tweeted after the game: "AS Roma's management spoke to the match officials after the game and they admitted that the decision to award the penalty was a mistake."

"We respect and thank them for their genuine honesty and now we focus on the next game."

Roma lead Group J with five points from Istanbul Basaksehir who beat Wolfsberg 1-0 to join the Austrians on four points with Moenchengladbach bottom on two.

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