Man Utd offside goal vs Man City compared to Liverpool decision on the same day | OneFootball

Sky Sports have posted a video comparing the offside decisions involving Marcus Rashford and Trent Alexander-Arnold on Saturday.

Let’s take the offside decision involving Rashford – which you’ve no doubt seen by now.

Casemiro aimed a through ball to the Manchester United striker, who was clearly offside.

However, Rashford attempted to get onto the ball and caused confusion in the Manchester City defence. Despite trying to reach the ball, Rashford didn’t end up touching it before Bruno Fernandes came from an onside position to sweep the ball past Ederson.

The assistant referee, Darren Cann, raised his flag but after a discussion with referee Stuart Attwell, the goal was given.

Despite making movements towards the ball, it was decided that Rashford didn’t interfere with the play.

Controversial to say the least.

Former Premier League referee, Chris Foy, explained why he ‘can see absolutely no reason why the goal should not have stood.’

If those are the laws, those are the laws.

The laws may well be an ‘a**’ – as former PGMOL chief, Keith Hackett put it – but as long as they’re consistently applied then football fans will come to accept it.

However, while everyone was still talking about Man Utd’s controversial equaliser, a very similar incident occurred on the south coast during Brighton vs Liverpool.

Trent Alexander-Arnold was flagged offside following Cody Gakpo’s shot, despite not touching the ball as he shepherded it out for a throw-in. Understandably, because it didn’t lead to a goal, the decision hasn’t been spoken about too much. It certainly hasn’t made headlines and had column inches dissecting the decision like Fernandes’ strike.

But it’s the exact same rule, applied in a completely different way.

It’s led to Sky Sports asking what the difference was between the two decisions.

Interesting.

What did Pep Guardiola say about Man Utd’s ‘offside’ goal?

While many have claimed the laws suggest Fernandes’ goal should have been allowed, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola dismissed the notion Rashford didn’t interfere.

“Manu Akanji stops the line [of running],” said Guardiola. “If he knows that he is going to go with Rashford, he will go back with him and do the duel one versus one and he sees what happens. But he [Rashford] intervenes in the action.

“But the referee decided he did not intervene in this stadium. It’s ok, what are we going to do? Are we going to make a complaint? No. Congratulations for that. Sometimes it happens in our [favour]. Sometimes [it’s like] that.

“The decision is they didn’t believe he [impacted the play]. Rashford was intervening in this action when this happened. It’s Old Trafford. We have to play much better. Like it’s Anfield. We have to do better.

“The rule is the rule, the interpretation belongs to the referee. I say Rashford is offside, Bruno is not. The situation is for the referees.”

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We’ll start easy…

Michu Chico Flores

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(The Football Terrace)