Copenhagen 0-0 Manchester City: Pep Guardiola says what we're all thinking about handball - The Warm-Up

WEDNESDAY'S BIG STORIES Handball? Ad The Warm-Up and Pep Guardiola, we've got a lot in common. For instance, both of us think Erling Haaland is a really good footballer. And, er, both of us think that Phil Foden is a really good footballer.

And — well, okay, mostly it's just the footballer thing. We don't even have the confidence to wear that turtleneck we've got lurking at the back of a drawer. Champions LeagueGuardiola admits he doesn't understand handball rule after VAR denies Man City12 HOURS AGO But last night, after 10-man Manchester City drew nil-all with Copenhagen, one journalist asked Guardiola if he understood the handball law.

He replied, «No.» And we've never felt closer to him. The law in question saw a work of art from Rodri ruled out for the faintest of touches from Riyad Mahrez's hand. Obviously we can't speak for Guardiola, but the Warm-Up's understanding was that accidental handballs by players other than the goalscorer would no longer be penalised.

Although, now we think about it, maybe that's just in the Premier League. Good to have different rules for different competitions. Maybe we could reinvigorate the League Cup by abolishing offside? Or introducing tasers? The problem, as we can see, is twofold.

First, it is impossible to come up with an absolutely definitive method of determining what is and isn't handball, since the concept of deliberate and accidental is baked into the thing and who can know the state of another's soul? One solution to this would be for football to recentre the rule around the referee's subjectivity, and ask them to penalise handball only when it seems to them to be a handball that matters. And, well, there's the second problem. The concept of handball is too nuanced for a