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Things finished level between Real Madrid and Manchester City at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday in their Champions League semifinal first leg after Kevin de Bruyne scored an equalizer in the 67th minute, but it was a goal that was filled with controversy. Real boss Carlo Ancelotti went as far as saying it should not have counted, claiming that it went out of bounds though VAR couldn’t intervene. But why?
The Italian boss shared his displeasure with officials, picked up a yellow card after the goal was scored and didn’t hold back after the match, citing television images he had seen.
“It was out. It’s not me saying it, the technology does,” Ancelotti said. “It surprises me. They’re small details, but the referee wasn’t attentive. The players deserved more cards on the pitch, not [me] off the pitch.”
But as CBS rules expert Christina Unkel explained on the UEFA Champions League Post-Match Show, too much time had passed after the incident took place, including Eduardo Camavinga recovering the ball for Real before turning it over right before the goal.
“There’s two points to remember with VAR in the protocol and process on this,” Unkel said. “Can VAR check for a ball going outside before a goal? The answer is yes. But the most important point here is at what part can VAR become involved?”
“There is no set amount of time before a goal we go back to check. Instead, it’s really predicated by the possession and who has possession of the ball. We can debate, we can have the question to whether the ball left [the field]. The real answer is, this actually would not have been captured in the window and the time frame for when VAR could have gone back to take a look from when De Bruyne scored that goal. Specifically, because there was a turnover in possession.
“Even if this was out, it would not have been reviewed by the VAR leading to the goal.”
Here’s the full segment with Unkel explaining Camavinga’s role of resetting the attack and essentially having enough happen after the incident for it not to be viewed as directly impacting this goal.
Controversial to the say the least.It’s potentially a gap in technology but it comes at a critical time as the goal could loom large with Real Madrid going to Manchester level instead of ahead. It is understandable that time passed and maybe didn’t directly impact, but had it gone out, Real should have had a throw-in. Of course, we don’t have confirmation it was actually out, and Unkel urges everyone to realize a ball can be misleading in images.