Penalty or no penalty? Hargreaves has his say on incident involving Osimhen and Pau Cubarsí 

Former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves believes referee Danny Makkelie made the right call in not awarding a penalty to Napoli during the second half of the Champions League round of 16 clash between Barcelona and the Italian champions.

Napoli failed to advance to the last eight after a 3-1 loss to the Blaugranes on Tuesday night at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.

Perhaps, the outcome of the game would have been different if the Dutch official had ruled in favour of Napoli who were behind 2-1 when the incident occurred. 

Early in the second half, Victor Osimhen went down in agony in the box after a coming together with Barcelona's teenage central defender Pau Cubarsí and the Super Eagles striker appealed for a penalty.

However, both the referee and video assistant referee (VAR) dismissed the appeal, allowing the game to continue.

Napoli boss Francesco Calzona was frustrated with the referee's decision after the game, saying it was not the correct verdict and criticized the VAR for not intervening. 

Reacting to the incident, Hargreaves said on TNT Sports :"I don't think it was. Maybe there is another angle where it might look like it but I thought it would have been soft.

"Osimhen has gone down a little bit sooner. There's contact initially but I thought he was with the best player on the pitch."

Osimhen saw little of the ball against Barcelona, registering only 29 touches - the least among the players that started the game for both teams. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

Photo Credit: uefa.com

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