Expert explains why Leao and Athekame’s goals were not offside per the rules

Rafael Leao and Zachary Athekame found the back of the net for AC Milan in their 2-2 draw against Pisa, but both goals have since been questioned for potential offside. 

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Milan had hoped for a strong performance, as well as a good result, in their game against Pisa last night. In the end, however, they got none of those as the away side came away with a point while the performance left a lot to be desired.

On top of that, there has been a lot of officiating controversy in the post-match comments as Milan believe the second goal should’ve been disallowed for a clear foul on Matteo Gabbia. Pisa, meanwhile, have highlighted the flaws of the offside rule.

For both of Milan’s goals, questions have been asked about whether the players in front of the goalkeeper (all in an offside position) affected the play. On Leao’s goal, it was Strahinja Pavlovic who made it difficult for the goalkeeper, while it was mainly Youssouf Fofana for Athekame’s strike.

However, as explained by the expert Denis of Errori Arbitrali, the new interpretation of the offside rule that was brought into use last year means both goals were correct:

“Why, in this situation, the attacker can be deemed ‘non-impactful’, comes from a directive issued by the technical sector last year: 1) the shot comes from outside the penalty area and 2) the attacker in an offside position is far from the goalkeeper.

“Under these conditions, it is assumed that the goalkeeper still has the time to make the save,” he explained when talking about Leao’s goal.

The same rules apply to Athekame’s strike, so the fact that Pavlovic and Fofana weren’t directly in the goalkeeper’s line of sight and also kept their distance got Milan off the hook.