Referee Daniel Schlager defends his decision to disallow Mönchengladbach an offside goal. Borussia coach Farke reacted angrily.
When Ramy Bensebaini sank a header in the 82nd minute, the Mönchengladbach team cheered. They were 2-0 down, Bensebaini’s goal would have equalized 2-2. Hardly anyone in the stadium and probably also on the screens doubted that the goal was regular. But then referee Daniel Schlager got a signal from his video assistant Johann Pfeifer.
Schlager watched the scene again on the screen – and it goes like this: Jonas Hofmann hits a wide corner kick from the right, in the back of the penalty area Marvin Friedrich heads the ball back in front of the goal. There, Bochum’s central defender Vasilios Lampropoulos plays the ball out so that it lands back at Hofmann. This crosses, Bensebaini heads, goal.
Schlager justifies the decision
It is undisputed that Hofmann was offside when Kramer headed the ball because he had not run back far enough after his corner kick. However, it is disputed whether the offside position was punishable. For this, the referee has to assess whether Lampropoulos’ defense was controlled.
Schlager chose no for an answer. “The player tries to clear when he’s in dire need, but he doesn’t do it with control. When he’s playing the ball in control, he’s going forward. But when he’s in dire need and he’s being attacked, he just doesn’t have the time and he doesn’t have the control about the situation.Schlager dismissed the goal for offside.
Farke: “Incredible wrong decision”
Mönchengladbach’s coach Daniel Farke had a completely different view. “That was an obvious, incomprehensible wrong decision. It is technically wrong and also wrong in terms of the process”, he said in the Sportschau interview. “The defensive action is intentional. The ball dances through the five, the player wants to clear the ball. It would be the first time in football history that the player would be criticized for clearing the ball wide.”
IFAB changes rule interpretation for “deliberate play”
The rules of football are set by the IFAB. At the beginning of the season, the rulers there specified the interpretation for situations like the one in Bochum. The occasion was several scenes in which clear offside positions were canceled simply because a defender had previously touched the ball.
The IFAB therefore restricted the situations in which a defensive action should be considered controlled, as a so-called “deliberate play”. An offside position should only be rescinded and re-evaluated if the defender clearly had a chance to pass the ball to a teammate, capture it or clear it in a controlled manner.
Indicators of a controlled defensive action
The IFAB lists the following as indicators that a defender was able to control the ball:
- The ball was on its way for a long time and the player had a clear view of it
- The ball wasn’t fast
- The direction of flight of the ball was not unexpected
- The player had time to coordinate his body movement, for example didn’t stretch instinctively
- A ball on the ground is easier to play than a ball in the air
Farke criticizes VAR intervention
A look at the Lambropolous case: He could see the ball, which was quite slow and not deflected, quite well. The ball bounced up just in front of him, he was able to play it just off the ground. However, Lambropoulos was locked in a tackle with Nico Elvedi and was off balance and had to straighten his leg significantly to be able to play the ball with his toes.
Despite the complex decision-making process, the video assistant sent referee Schlager to the screen. Farke described this procedure as a disaster. “The VAR can report if it’s a crystal clear wrong decision. That was not the case here at all.”
Schlager refers to training
Schlager, on the other hand, argued as follows when asked about the broad criticism from the Mönchengladbach ranks: “For us it’s a clear wrong decision because there was a new interpretation of the rules in the summer. Training was also held at the clubs, and exactly this topic, this game situation, was discussed. On the field, I also noticed that that the situation is out of control.”
Farke: “Then he has to be a rock star”
Farke was so upset that he went even further with the criticism of Schlager. “This referee used the whole game on stage to let the crowd celebrate him. But it’s not about the referee letting the crowd celebrate like a rock star. Then he has to become a rock star. He should make good decisions But he used his VAR colleague’s through ball to convert the thing and be able to enjoy the next roaring applause from the crowd here.”
The Bochum fans celebrated the deprivation of the goal almost like a goal of their own. VfL saved the lead over time and scored three important points in the relegation battle. Mönchengladbach, on the other hand, missed the chance to get closer to the European places.