PSG will arrive a goal behind in three weeks in Bavaria, and it was played a few centimeters. Defeated (0-1) Tuesday at the Parc des Princes by Bayern Munich in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League, the Parisians saw Kylian Mbappé’s equalizer canceled for an offside of a few centimeters from Nuno Mendes, decisive passer , detected by the VAR. But is football going in the right direction by sanctioning these tangent actions?
Dominique Sévérac and Romain Baheux, journalists in the sports department of “Parisien” – “Today in France”, discuss it.
Dominique Sévérac: “Contrary to the spirit, but also to the law”
Obviously, on an eccentric free kick, a goal from an offside player’s header of one millimeter must be disallowed. The consequence is too important not to cancel the advantage that this striker has drawn from it ahead of the others. On the action of the 82nd of PSG – Bayern, sanctioning the real offside of Nuno Mendes questioning de facto the goal of Kylian Mbappé, the law and the spirit of the game are flouted.
The Portuguese side, launched deep by Neymar, takes no advantage of his position since he is on the same line as Dayot Upamecano, more than thirty meters from goal, glued to the left sideline. He still has to resist the duel, cross, find someone in the area and that someone – Kylian Mbappé in this case – scores. As “long” before the possibility of a goal, this bionic offside, which the assistant judge had not detected, does not make sense.
This law, number 11 in the game, was invented with the idea of not letting a player stay alone in front, waiting for the ball between the goalkeeper and the last defender, otherwise it would be too easy. And repetitive therefore boring while football fascinates by its diversity, its tactical variety. The spirit claims to let play if more or less, the attacker and his bodyguard find themselves fighting on the same line in order to favor the offensive. The real check would have been to know if Mbappé is offside on the center of Nuno Mendes. In this case, yes. Before, while everything can still happen, this offside, although existing, turns into an anti-football decision.
Romain Baheux: “The law is tough, but it is clear”
“A piece of kneecap. “All for a few centimeters.” “It’s against the spirit of the action. “Since the cancellation of Kylian Mbappé’s goal, arguments have followed one another in the ranks, most often from PSG supporters, to try to explain why this equalizer had to be granted to the 2018 world champion. But all these points do not only avoid the inevitable fact of this 82nd minute: Nuno Mendes was offside.
So yes, it comes down to very little. Yes, it could not be more frustrating for the Parisians, and no doubt that this position did not change anything at the end of the thing. But on the merits, how can we refuse the general principle of not sanctioning the illicit when we have the possibility? Because if not, from when should we disconnect the cameras and not whistle the offside? More than five centimeters? Ten ? Half a body? Yes, but which one?
All of this only adds confusion to a harsh but clear law which states that offside is on a pass when “any part of the head, trunk or legs is closer to the opponent’s goal line than the ball and the penultimate opponent”. So we can, like Arsène Wenger, think about making it evolve so as not to whistle as long as one of these parts is not. But in the meantime, let’s admit that it was necessary to cancel this goal. Before, who knows, see in three weeks the PSG in turn benefit from technology.