Question Number: 30937

Law 11 - Offside 10/22/2016

RE: Adult

Juhan Partsmann of Brüssel, Belgia asks...

hi

Todays match Milan - Juventus (22.10.2016).

Pjanic freekick is a valid goal or not?

There is a player in offside position who makes a run for the ball and then stops and then 2nd player (not offside) tried to play the ball...

Is the first attacking player involved in the play and the ref should call offside?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Juhan,
the OPP did not block the keeper from seeing, in my opinion, thus did not interfere with the opponent and most definitely did NOT interfere in play! The non offside player who attempted to play the ball is the one who definitely put the keeper off which is perfectly fine . Good goal. Bad goal tending!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Juhan
Not offside in my opinion. The player that was in an offside position did not touch the ball nor interfere with an opponent as defined by Law 11. The Juventus player # 19 that attempts to play the ball was not in an offside position so no matter what he did he should not be called offside. What I believe had happened here was that the AR saw a Juventus player in an offside position. That White shirt immediately attracts the ARs attention and he sees White shirts ahead of the 2nd last opponent. The onside player close to that PIOP emerges from that pack and the AR believes he is also positioned offside.
Now to interfere with play a player must touch the ball and to interfere with an opponent one of the following has to be met
# preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or
# challenging an opponent for the ball or
# clearly attempting to play a ball which is close to him when this action impacts on an opponent or
# making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball.
You will have to agree that none of those four conditions were met by the player in an offside position. Now say had player # 19 that makes an attmept to play the ball had been in an offside position then that obvious movement would IMO be considered interfering with an opponent.
I think in situations like this that the FIFA Video Assistant Referee can be of great assistance. By the same time that the referee has consulted with an AR he could be told by the VAR that on review of the video that the goal was offside / not offside. If I was reviewing this the goal would be good.