Uefa Rule Changes Kick In For Man Utd Clash With Lask

UEFA have announced some law changes which will be in place when Manchester United resume the Europa League campaign with Wednesday’s game against LASK.

The amendments are being implemented as the European competitions restart, after coming into effect on 1 June.

It means the round-of-16 second leg at Old Trafford is affected, in addition to the temporary measure of five substitutions being permitted per side.

UEFA’s chief refereeing officer Roberto Rosetti explained: “In general, with the Laws of the Game, there are just a few minor changes. The most important changes are about Law 14, on the penalty-kicks and Law 10 – determining the outcome of a match.”

The laws on penalties now state an offence by the goalkeeper is not penalised if the spot-kick misses the goal or rebounds from the goal (without a touch from the keeper) unless the offence clearly affected the taker. The keeper is warned for the first offence; it is a yellow card for any further offence(s). The kicker is penalised if the keeper and the kicker offend at exactly the same time.

“In particular, when the goalkeeper saves the kick [by encroaching], it’s not a caution for the first offence but the keeper must be cautioned for any further offence,” added Rosetti. “Most goalkeeper encroachment results from a mis-anticipation from the keeper and small offences are now detected more with the technology, with the video assistant referee.”

The new amendment to Law 10 is that yellow cards and warnings will no longer be carried forward into the penalty shoot-out.

This applies to all players but is particularly relevant to goalkeepers, who face more scrutiny now due to VAR.

“According to IFAB and according to the Laws of the Game, the kicks from the penalty mark are not part of the match,” said Rosetti. “It’s just a way to determine the winner of the match.

“So, [at the moment] if the goalkeeper has a yellow card from the match – from the match or from extra time – and then encroaches in the kicks from the penalty mark, of course, then he must be sent off.

“This would be more likely to occur now with VAR, and the goalkeeper can be penalised more than other players. We think that this is a good, important change.”

Providing United complete the job against LASK, after the 5-0 win in Linz in the first leg, the Europa League knock-out tournament in Germany takes place over single matches.

Hence, penalty shoot-outs could well become crucial in determining the outcome from the quarter-finals onwards.