In the first half we were forced into a discussion of unintentional hand balls when Marouane Chamakh was absolved of wrong doing In the 73rd minute, Gaël Clichy did not get the benefit of the doubt, slipping in the right side of the penalty area only to see a Nani pass strike his hand. The referee's assistant waved his flag. Howard Webb blew his whistle. Manchester United got the benefit of inconsistent refereeing.
Manchester United Vs. Arsenal: Gael Clichy Hand Ball Leads To Embarrassing Wayne Rooney Penalty Kick Miss
Perhaps football karma intervened at that point, to Wayne Rooney's chagrin. The United forward placed the ball and lined up for a 12 yard run up, looping his line to the ball to get the shot on this right foot. Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny dove left, but it didn't matter. Rooney executed one of the worst misses you'll even see from the spot, skying the ball high and to the left of goal, missing by what appeared to be eight feet.
True, if you want to a high school ground you might see a worse miss. And two years ago, in the Community Shield, Dimitar Berbatov dribbled an embarrassing ball to the Petr Cech in the penalty shootout. Still, Rooney's shot was shocking for a player at this level, and given the pressure on him to break an open play goal scoring drought that's into its ninth month, Rooney's miss was practically a sign of cracking.
Not in the 79th minute, with Theo Walcott having come on for Andrei Arshavin, United maintains a 1-0 lead.
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