Roma 1-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach: Chris Smalling concedes controversial late penalty

Smalling has made four appearances in Serie A for Roma since joining on loan from Manchester United

Chris Smalling conceded a controversial 93rd-minute penalty as Roma were held to a 1-1 draw by Borussia Monchengladbach in the Europa League.

The Manchester United loanee was adjudged to have blocked a Nico Elvedi header with his hand by Scottish referee Willie Collum.

Sounds fair enough, right?

Well, it would have been if the ball hadn't smashed Smalling flush in the face.

The reaction to the decision was, as you'd expect, polar opposite from the two sides:

We've all had those moments watching football when we've seen a replay of an incident and thought, "Eh!?!"

Monchengladbach's Twitter admin certainly experienced it tonight...

Hats off to Monchengladbach though, at least they had the decency to apologise after Lars Stindl smashed home the penalty to snatch just their second point of the campaign against the group leaders...

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How soon is too soon? The German side gave it just three minutes before cracking out this meme.

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Shortly after the full-time whistle Smalling expressed his disappointment at the decision.

Roma later revealed on the club's official Twitter account that the match officials had admitted their mistake, and accepted their apology with good grace: "The #ASRoma post-match management spoke to match officials, who admitted they had made a mistake in awarding the penalty. We respect them and thank them for being honest. Now head to the next game #ForzaRoma."

Why didn't VAR intervene?

Wondering why the decision wasn't overturned by VAR?

The technology isn't available until the final in the Europa League.

We wonder what referee Collum would have given for the technology to be available tonight?

Earlier in the year, he came out in support of VAR saying "there's no referee in the world who wouldn't support VAR".

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'There's no referee in the world who wouldn't support VAR'

• Line-ups
• Match Stats
• Live Text

Line-ups

Roma

• 13López
• 37Spinazzola
• 6SmallingBooked at 90mins
• 20Fazio
• 11Kolarov
• 23Mancini
• 22ZanioloSubstituted forAntonucciat 77'minutesBooked at 90mins
• 27PastoreSubstituted forPerottiat 62'minutes
• 21VeretoutBooked at 50mins
• 99KluivertBooked at 72minsSubstituted forFlorenziat 84'minutes
• 9Dzeko

Substitutes

• 5Nunes Jesus
• 8Perotti
• 24Florenzi
• 48Antonucci
• 53Riccardi
• 61Calafiori
• 83Mirante

B Mgladbach

• 1Sommer
• 18LainerBooked at 81mins
• 24Jantschke
• 30Elvedi
• 25BensebainiBooked at 65mins
• 6KramerSubstituted forBénesat 76'minutes
• 8Zakaria
• 7HerrmannSubstituted forHofmannat 62'minutes
• 32Neuhaus
• 10Thuram
• 36EmboloSubstituted forStindlat 76'minutes

Substitutes

• 13Stindl
• 15Beyer
• 17Wendt
• 22Bénes
• 23Hofmann
• 31Grün
• 34Noß

Referee:

William Collum

Attendance:

29,037

Match Stats

Home TeamRomaAway TeamB Mgladbach

Possession

Home44%

Away56%

Shots

Home12

Away15

Shots on Target

Home1

Away3

Corners

Home6

Away4

Fouls

Home20

Away14

Live Text

Posted at

Match ends, Roma 1, Borussia Mönchengladbach 1.

Full Time

Posted at 90'+7'

Second Half ends, Roma 1, Borussia Mönchengladbach 1.

Posted at 90'+6'

Attempt blocked. Federico Fazio (Roma) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.

Posted at 90'+6'

Foul by Marcus Thuram (Borussia Mönchengladbach).

Posted at 90'+6'

Gianluca Mancini (Roma) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Goal!

Posted at 90'+5'

Goal! Roma 1, Borussia Mönchengladbach 1. Lars Stindl (Borussia Mönchengladbach) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.

Booking

Posted at 90'+4'

Chris Smalling (Roma) is shown the yellow card.

Posted at 90'+3'

Penalty conceded by Chris Smalling (Roma) with a hand ball in the penalty area.

Posted at 90'+3'

Attempt blocked. Nico Elvedi (Borussia Mönchengladbach) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by László Bénes.

Posted at 90'+2'

Denis Zakaria (Borussia Mönchengladbach) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 90'+2'

Foul by Edin Dzeko (Roma).

Booking

Posted at 90'+2'

Mirko Antonucci (Roma) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 90'+2'

Nico Elvedi (Borussia Mönchengladbach) wins a free kick on the left wing.

Posted at 90'+2'

Foul by Mirko Antonucci (Roma).

Posted at 90'

Attempt missed. Marcus Thuram (Borussia Mönchengladbach) left footed shot from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Stefan Lainer with a cross.

Posted at 90'

Attempt missed. Alessandro Florenzi (Roma) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Edin Dzeko with a through ball.

Posted at 89'

Attempt missed. Jonas Hofmann (Borussia Mönchengladbach) right footed shot from outside the box is too high following a corner.

Posted at 88'

Corner, Borussia Mönchengladbach. Conceded by Alessandro Florenzi.

Posted at 87'

Foul by Marcus Thuram (Borussia Mönchengladbach).

Posted at 87'

Mirko Antonucci (Roma) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 85'

Offside, Borussia Mönchengladbach. Tony Jantschke tries a through ball, but Jonas Hofmann is caught offside.

Substitution

Posted at 84'

Substitution, Roma. Alessandro Florenzi replaces Justin Kluivert.

Posted at 82'

Stefan Lainer (Borussia Mönchengladbach) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 82'

Foul by Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma).

Posted at 81'

Attempt missed. Chris Smalling (Roma) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Jordan Veretout following a set piece situation.

Booking

Posted at 81'

Stefan Lainer (Borussia Mönchengladbach) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 81'

Foul by Stefan Lainer (Borussia Mönchengladbach).

Posted at 81'

Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 80'

Attempt missed. Federico Fazio (Roma) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Diego Perotti with a cross following a corner.

Posted at 79'

Corner, Roma. Conceded by Stefan Lainer.

Posted at 78'

Attempt saved. Lars Stindl (Borussia Mönchengladbach) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.

Substitution

Posted at 77'

Substitution, Borussia Mönchengladbach. Lars Stindl replaces Breel Embolo.

Substitution

Posted at 77'

Substitution, Roma. Mirko Antonucci replaces Nicolò Zaniolo.

Substitution

Posted at 76'

Substitution, Borussia Mönchengladbach. László Bénes replaces Christoph Kramer.

Posted at 76'

Denis Zakaria (Borussia Mönchengladbach) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 76'

Foul by Gianluca Mancini (Roma).

Booking

Posted at 72'

Justin Kluivert (Roma) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 72'

Christoph Kramer (Borussia Mönchengladbach) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 72'

Foul by Justin Kluivert (Roma).

Posted at 71'

Tony Jantschke (Borussia Mönchengladbach) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

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