Why Karim Benzema’s Champions League Final Goal Was Disallowed
Near the end of the first half of the UEFA Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Liverpool, Karim Benzema appeared to score the first goal of the game and put the Spanish club up entering halftime. However, after VAR review, it was determined that Benzema was offside and the goal did not stand.
The goal was scored after a scrum in front of the Liverpool goalmouth in which midfielder Fabinho failed to clear the ball. The ruling was that while Fabinho was the final player to touch the ball before Benzema’s goal, he didn’t “deliberately” touch the ball when Benzema was in an offside position.
Since the critical call was made on an odd rule, and there was an element of judgment, it led to a fierce discussion on social media of whether the officials were right or wrong.
However, other analysts and officials believe the referees got the call correct.
Real Madrid ended up scoring the game’s opener anyways, thanks to a Vinícius Júnior strike in the 59th minute.
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