The Ref Stop

Bayern Munich vs Borussia M'glabbach

Tingting

The Sheriff of the Wild West
In the 36th minute, Rocco Reitz threw his hands up, blocking the ball. The ball was kicked up, and Reitz threw both of his hands towards the ball. The move looked intentional, and it was in an unatural position. Any thoughts on this?
 
The Ref Stop
In the 36th minute, Rocco Reitz threw his hands up, blocking the ball. The ball was kicked up, and Reitz threw both of his hands towards the ball. The move looked intentional, and it was in an unatural position. Any thoughts on this?
Going to need a clip, I very much doubt many on here were watching it
 
From these photos it looks like handball

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The stills don’t do it. Keep in mind the definition of deliberate in the Laws:

Deliberate
An action which the player intended/meant to make; it is not a ‘reflex’ or unintended reaction

If the referee deems it a reflexive protective action, it isn’t deliberate.
Agree on deliberate and agree with point on the still.
Worth pointing out whilst ruling out deliberate, making the body unnaturally bigger is of course still on the table.

A video of this incident would be helpful for an informed opinion to be given
 
A defender clears the ball and his teamate, Reitz slaps it away. I think it would be a handball and penalty.
 
From the still. It looks like he is protecting his face via reflexes.

So as @JamesL said. Is he unnaturally making himself bigger. How much time did he have to anticipate the cross.
 
Natural obviously is for movements within legal footballing moves. And that is so subjective. Any move leading to knwingly handling the ball is usually not a footballing move.

One could argue if he had enough time to bring his hands up to his head, then he had enough time to get his head out of the way. We don't really know his intent. No time to think. The question then becomes, what is the right expected reflex? Again subjective. These guys at this level live and breath football. For me the natural reflex should be to get of of the way. You see a lot of players' reflex is to turn. While in grassroot no way I'd give this a handball, I'd have no issues with it being given at Professional level.
 
From the still. It looks like he is protecting his face via reflexes.

So as @JamesL said. Is he unnaturally making himself bigger. How much time did he have to anticipate the cross.
The ball did not come to him from a cross. For what it's worth, it came at him from a clearance by a team mate at very close range (the one you can see in the first image, closest to Reitz and more or less on the ground).
 
A defender clears the ball and his teamate, Reitz slaps it away. I think it would be a handball and penalty.
Having now watched a video of the game, I agree with the referee at the time (and the VAR, who didn't call for a review) that there's no handball offence here. Reflex protective action because of a ball hit at him hard, from extremely close range.
 

This is the link for the clip
from the clip i say it is penalty because the ball did not reflex off his leg or body + the hand was far from the body and make the it bigger and i think it is close to his face but it is not directly directed to the face
How is it making the body bigger? It's hitting him in the head without his instinctive reaction. I don't see how this can be classed as deliberate or making himself unnaturally bigger.
 

This is the link for the clip
from the clip i say it is penalty because the ball did not reflex off his leg or body + the hand was far from the body and make the it bigger and i think it is close to his face but it is not directly directed to the face
I think he panicked when he realised he was in danger of injury, when the ball was going to be blasted at him from very close range.

Not a penalty, the ball is heading out of the PA, he has no reason to make himself bigger.
 
The stills don’t do it. Keep in mind the definition of deliberate in the Laws:

Deliberate
An action which the player intended/meant to make; it is not a ‘reflex’ or unintended reaction

If the referee deems it a reflexive protective action, it isn’t deliberate.
THE ANSWER
 
I don't see this 'reflex' bit in the IFAB law book. Is it a genuine "Correct in Law" consideration?
To me, his left hand is up in the air and nowhere near his face. I'd go pen. (ducks)
 
I don't see this 'reflex' bit in the IFAB law book. Is it a genuine "Correct in Law" consideration?
To me, his left hand is up in the air and nowhere near his face. I'd go pen. (ducks)
In the glossary, under the definition of "deliberate".
 
The real question is was his hand / arm a consequence or, or justifiable by, the player's body movement for that specific situation. I'm not entirely convinced that putting your hands in front of your face to avoid the ball hitting it is justifiable action, perhaps because I was always coached that you just took the ball in the face rather than risk giving a penalty away. That said, I don't have any strong views on it and can see both sides of the argument
 
The real question is was his hand / arm a consequence or, or justifiable by, the player's body movement for that specific situation. I'm not entirely convinced that putting your hands in front of your face to avoid the ball hitting it is justifiable action, perhaps because I was always coached that you just took the ball in the face rather than risk giving a penalty away. That said, I don't have any strong views on it and can see both sides of the argument
At grassroots levels and especially at youth levels (where player safety is of paramount importance), I’d almost always judge an instinctive reflex movement to protect oneself as a justifiable body position. At pro levels, you could indeed make a case either way .. but in this scenario, where it is of zero playing benefit to the player to handball it, I’d see it as very harsh to call this an offence
 
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