The debate and the anger continues to rumble on after AC Milan’s defeat against Napoli last night about the incident at the end of the game where Franck Kessie’s goal was called off.
Referee Massa was called over by the VAR chief for the On Field Review, and he decided that the Rossoneri’s goal should be chalked off due to the offside position of Olivier Giroud. According to MilanNews, the AIA (Italian Referee’s Association) have tried to clarify the decision by stating that when there is physical contact between a player in an offside position and a defender, the attacker is considered to be in an illegal position, regardless of any clear intention to interfere with the opponent and the game.
The contact between Giroud and Juan Jesus – with the addition of the movement of the Frenchman’s legs – is enough for the AIA to believe that Massa got the call right and they are sticking by their man.
However, the report goes on to highlight the great inconsistency. According to the rules, an attacker’s offside position is therefore considered active if he or she:
➤ Is interfering with play by playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate.
➤ Is interfering with an opponent by:
– Preventing him from playing or being able to play the ball, clearly obstructing the line of vision, or contesting the ball, or clearly attempting to play the ball that is close by when this action impacts the opponent or making an obvious action that clearly impacts the opponent’s ability to play the ball.
In this case Giroud moves his left leg precisely to avoid direct contact with Juan Jesus, who manages to intervene without problems. Furthermore, the French striker finds himself in that position after a challenge with Juan Jesus and cannot move.
If he had tried to play the ball or impeded the former Roma defender the decision would have been right, but we are all left scratching our heads.
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Referee & injury are the biggest enemies on this season.
Italy officiating is still corrupt – been like that for years and still hasn’t changed even with VAR lol. It’s a disgrace. Doesn’t happen in England who use VAR all the time with much less if not ZERO controversy. It’s a joke. That is one of the reasons (lack of new stadiums, racism etc… to name a few others) Italy lags behind other leagues – until they clean up the corruption we will always be behind the English, German and Spanish leagues…
You obviously don’t follow EPL. Worst referees and VAR usage in top 5 leagues. Just google it 😉
I thought they got better this season in PL. Olol but if football was fair enough this sport would be impressive. But UEFA sucks.
“The French striker finds himself in that position after a challenge with Juan Jesus and cannot move.”
Well this “challenge” was actually a foul and that’s why they misteriously lay down on the pitch.
Unfortunately this is the truth. They played better than Milan and they won. Instead of blaming the referee, they should focus on how to improve this team and not just claiming to do so while giving great players for free to our competitors. We don’t need lies, we don’t deserve lies….