Gary Lineker demands VAR action after his 'awful' experience at Fulham vs Man Utd

Gary Lineker criticised the penalty decision during Sunday's draw between Manchester United and Fulham, stating he was baffled about which side was being awarded the spot-kick. The Red Devils were granted a penalty in the opening period of their trip to Craven Cottage, following a ruling that Calvin Bassey had brought down Mason Mount inside the box during a corner kick.

However, the typically dependable Bruno Fernandes sent his effort from 12 yards sailing over the crossbar, with neither side finding the net until after the interval. Leny Yoro appeared to have broken the deadlock in the 58th minute with a deflected header, though this was subsequently credited as a Rodrigo Muniz own goal. Moments after being introduced as a substitute, Emile Smith Rowe levelled matters in the 73rd minute. While both sides pressed for a decisive breakthrough, the match finished 1-1, with United securing their opening point of the campaign.

But Lineker was far from impressed with his journey to west London, expressing his bewilderment regarding the VAR ruling. Whilst analysing United's difficulties on the Rest is Football podcast, the former England striker said: "They got a penalty, which my goodness, what a bizarre experience.

"You know, going to the game, we're watching the game, there's a corner and then the ball's cleared, the ball goes up to the other end of the pitch and Fulham's on the attack.

"Then suddenly the ref stops and you're thinking, 'What's going on here?' Now, I know the experience is probably different at home, but if you're in the ground, Oh my. Then you look at, you see a sign saying VAR penalty check. And I was honestly sitting there and I said 'For which team, who to?'

"I didn't even know whether it was that end or that end, and you had no idea what was going on. I mean, it's such an awful experience for fans."

Lineker added: "I mean, I know now they're telling you why they changed their decision, which he ultimately did. I couldn't see from how far we were away, so I had no idea whether it should have been overturned.

"But Bruno missed it anyway, blazed it over the bar. But they've got to actually tell you what's going on for the fans in the ground to hear it. There's a penalty check because so and so, we think he might have pushed so and so, but we're checking all the angles."

When co-presenter Alan Shearer questioned Lineker's thoughts on the penalty decision itself, the pundit agreed that it was the correct call to award it. The 64-year-old went on to praise Ruben Amorim's squad for their progress compared to the previous campaign, despite United failing to secure victory in any match during the 2025/26 season so far.

He added: "United started really well, I thought, 'Oh, hello,' because last week I thought they showed something, even though they lost, and the first 15 to 20 minutes you thought, 'Mm, okay'. Cunha was electric, went really close [with] a brilliant effort, hit the post.

"Another one blazed over the bar, he had a one on one with the keeper where he probably should've scored but a good save from Leno and you thought, 'Well, there's something here.'".

Looking back on the squandered chances, boss Amorim confessed that whilst he doesn't experience the "urgency" that supporters may be grappling with, he believes the squad must handle matches more effectively when in front.

Speaking to MUTV after the final whistle, the Portuguese manager said: "In this moment, we need to think about the performance. Of course I'm not crazy, I know what the feeling is of the players that play in the team that they have to win every match.

"But I felt that in the past, I don't feel a lack of urgency in this moment. What I felt is that we missed the penalty, we missed some chances and then we score and I have the feeling that now we have to defend this goal.

"That is not a lack of urgency, it may be urgency in the opposite side. We just need to focus on our movement and the way we have to play the game."

Amorim added: "It's normal [that Fulham are dangerous from corners]. I think we tried to press high and, after one or two times, we need to understand that sometimes we need to manage the game, to wait for the opponent. That was the option of Fulham and sometimes we push the ball to the side too soon.

"It was quite easy for the opponent to mark us and we wanted to press all of the time. We wanted to do that but sometimes we have to be better in that moment, understand the game, try to drop a little bit and start the pressure, so they had more space than us when they were attacking."

Meanwhile, Fulham boss Marco Silva launched a scathing attack on the officiating throughout the match, particularly regarding United's goal, which he believed should have been ruled out for a foul.

Speaking to the media post-match, Silva said: "I would like to explain everything about the VAR decisions this afternoon, but I can't. I can't because they were different in many different ways. They were unbelievable seeing two fouls at the same time, Shaw on Rodrigo and Bassey on Mount at the same time, both fouls, and they saw that Bassey foul was half of a half second before the Shaw foul on Muniz.

"Then the second one [the United goal]. I think what I saw is what everyone saw in the stadium; everyone around the world saw it. Two players were isolated at a corner and one player pushed the other to head the ball. If you go by the rules you know what is going to happen.

"I would like those types of decisions to always be the same. Simple as that."

Next up for United is a trip to League Two side Grimsby Town in the second round of the Carabao Cup, followed by a home game against newly-promoted Burnley on August 30. Meanwhile, Silva's team will take on Bristol City in their next cup match before facing a challenging encounter at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea.