Ex-refs chief explains why Mohamed Salah's penalty was allowed to stand vs Burnley after surprising incident
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Credit: Imago / Sky Sports YouTube
Harri Burton
Mon 15 September 2025 10:35, UK
Michael Oliver was right to allow Mohamed Salah’s winning penalty to stand against Burnley despite an incident which surprised Keith Hackett.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that Jeremie Frimpong could have caused the goal to be ruled out due to his role in the match-winning moment.
Hannibal Mejbri conceded a penalty in the fourth minute of added time, with the Clarets about to be handed a crushing blow after 90 minutes of incredible battling against Arne Slot‘s side.
Kyle Walker was proud of his Burnley teammates despite the last-minute defeat, but it could have been very different for the Reds had Frimpong’s encroachment been seen differently on Sunday, 14 September.
New laws state that an encroaching player must impact the goalkeeper for the goal to be disallowed, and in this case, Hackett believes that a split-second decision was made by the officials.
Lesley Ugochukwu was lucky not to be shown a straight red for his first-half challenge on Alexis Mac Allister, though he finally suffered that fate later in the game due to a late foul on Florian Wirtz.
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Scott Parker‘s side were pushed up against the wall for the final few minutes, eventually ending in Hannibal conceding a penalty for handball inside the area.
Credit: Imago
Despite being surprised at the decision to allow Salah’s goal to stand due to his teammate’s early burst into the penalty area, he now believes that the correct decision was reached at Turf Moor.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former referee said: “At the time, I didn’t know the law had changed, and I picked up all the law changes.
He [Frimpong] had really gone into the penalty area, and that should have resulted in a changed decision.
“With encroachment from an attacking player, if a goal is scored, what the referee has to judge is the impact that the player has had on the goalkeeper.
“Michael Oliver has judged that Frimpong’s movement has not impacted the goalkeeper, and, therefore, he allows the goal.
This is the matrix produced from penalty kicks.
Frimpong, probably because he’s out to the right and not in the centre, so he’s not impacting the goalkeeper, is why the goal was allowed to stand.”