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Michail Antonio fuels Leeds United fire with claim after late West Ham win

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Image for Michail Antonio fuels Leeds United fire with claim after late West Ham win

West Ham striker Michail Antonio has stood by his challenge that led to a disallowed goal against Leeds United, where he elbowed Illan Meslier in the face.

Leeds crumbled to a sickening late defeat at home to West Ham at the weekend, with there being plenty to discuss after the game.

The Irons scored two goals in the second half to peg back Leeds after Raphinha’s classy opener, with Michail Antonio netting the winner to continue his fine run in front of goal.

While Antonio was involved in a legitimate winner for the visitors, he was at the thick of controversy as his aerial challenge on Illan Meslier led to the goalkeeper dropping the ball, to be tapped home by Tomas Soucek.

The goal was initially awarded inexplicably, with Meslier on the floor clutching his face as blood ran onto his shirt, before VAR was eventually consulted and used to overturn the goal.

Antonio was booked for his challenge in the fallout, but he has since made it clear he thinks there was no foul in what he did, as Meslier carried on with a bloodied tissue in his mouth.

As he stepped up for post-match media duties, he was faced with a handful of chants from Leeds fans, branding him a ‘cheat’ as the foul could have been deemed a red card.

Speaking after the game, he told WHUTV:

Basically, I’ve jumped up and the hand that I’ve led with has caught the goalkeeper.

I honestly don’t think that it’s a foul, but I’ve caught him, he’s gone down, and we’ve scored from it. The referee has made the decision and that’s the decision at the end of the day. We’ve managed to get the three points anyway and we’ll keep going.

I think it’s a case of either a yellow or red card being justifiable.

What is quite obvious is that Antonio is absolutely incorrect to think it wasn’t a foul when he had no intention to win the header but to barge Meslier out of the way illegally.

He was lucky that he led with a somewhat straight arm, because if he didn’t then he’d have been sent walking.

The right decision was eventually made thanks to VAR, but it’s laughable that Kevin Friend initially gave the goal despite a blatant foul.

We’re never going to stop debating VAR and referees while they still can’t do their jobs without leaning on technology as a crutch for basic decisions.

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Leeds United season ticket holder since 2013/14, currently situated in the middle of the FA5 noise. From Pablo Hernandez to 5-1 drubbings, I've seen it all at Elland Road.