It's official: UEFA reckon this bloke really is playing van Nistelrooy onside

13 April 2012

Refereeing chiefs and their UEFA counterparts have joined forces to insist the Swedish officials who allowed Ruud van Nistelrooy's controversial goal against Italy made the right decision.

Van Nistelrooy scored Holland's opener in a 3-0 win on Monday from what appeared to be a clear offside position, diverting Wesley Sneijder's shot home from close range.

Controversial strike: van Nistelrooy scores as Panucci lies injured off the pitch

The Italians were furious and their fans reacted angrily when they saw replays on the big screen outside the Stade de Suisse in Berne.

Dutch players expected it to be disallowed but there was no flag from linesman Stefan Wittberg and referee Peter Frojdfeldt indicated a goal.

Sportsmail's refereeing expert Graham Poll branded the decision an 'indefensible error ' by Wi t t b e r g but yesterday UEFA general secretary David Taylor applauded Frojdfeldt and his assistant for making the right call. Taylor pointed to Law 11, the offside law in the rules of the game, and the fact that Italy defender Christian Panucci had been bundled from the pitch by his own goalkeeper, Gianluigi Buffon.

Panucci was lying injured at least a yard out of play but was still technically 'active' and, therefore, he and Buffon had played van Nistelrooy onside.

'Not many people, even in the game - and I include the players - know this interpretation,' said Taylor.

'Even though the defender was off the field because of his momentum, he is still deemed to be part of the game and is therefore taken into consideration as one of the last two defending players.

'As a result Ruud van Nistelrooy was not nearer the opponents' goal-line than the second last defender and therefore could not be in an offside position.'

Taylor admitted the law does not confront this issue 'directly' - in fact, it does not confront it at all - but he claimed this interpretation was common knowledge among referees, stopping players from deliberately stepping off the pitch to catch an opponent offside.

Barclays Premier League referees' boss Keith Hackett backed Taylor's viewpoint, as did Gerhard Kapl of the Austrian Refereeing Commission, who said the decision was '100 per cent correct'.

Hackett said: 'The fact is the assistant was correct, the defender off the field is still regarded as active. Panucci went off through contact with his own goalkeeper. He is still considered part of the game.'

Taylor quoted a similar incident in a Swiss league game between FC Basel and Sion last season when a TV commentator made a public apology for not knowing the rules.

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