In the 5th minute of injury time at Molineux, Man City was awarded a corner kick with a score of 1-1. That is considered the last chance for them to win 3 points in the context of Arsenal's recent painful loss to Bournemouth. If Man City also lose points against Wolves, they will miss the opportunity to "cut the tail" of their opponent.
The person who took the corner kick was Phil Foden. After the English midfielder poured the ball in, John Stones headed the ball to increase the score to 2-1. That moment of the 30-year-old central defender made a few away fans in the stands burst into tears. However, the joy of Stones and his teammates lasted only about 30 seconds before referee Chris Kavanagh sealed the goal without recognizing it.
Finally, the linesman raised the flag to signal that there was a foul on City's side in that situation. After consulting his assistants, Mr. Kavanagh confirmed that Bernardo Silva, who was in front of Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa in that situation, had interfered with the ball while in an offside position.
It was not until VAR referee Stuart Attwell checked the video and asked Chris Kavanagh to check it again that Man City breathed a sigh of relief. After that, the main referee decided to still recognize the goal for the away team and The Citizens got 3 dramatic points.
From a legal perspective, there are two main points that referees need to consider when assessing whether a goal is recognized or not, when a player is in an offside position and may have affected the ball.
In case 1, if the player standing in an offside position moves to obstruct the opponent or obstruct the opponent's movement towards the ball, the referee will blow the offside. In case 2, a player in an offside position is moving towards the ball with the intention of performing an action (shooting, passing) but is fouled during the challenge. The referee will blow the foul in the dispute, not the offside.
In Bernardo Silva's move, the Premier League had to reinterprete this rule on the official X page, through the Match Center account. After that, the controversy did not break out anymore.
According to the organizers, the most notable point of this situation is the position and action of Bernardo Silva when the Portuguese striker was in front of Jose Sa's vision. It made it difficult for the referees because Silva did not try to participate in the situation and did not seem to be in Sa's vision when Stones touched the ball. However, Silva seemed to have hit Sa as soon as the ball left Foden's foot at the corner.
But the referees could not blow the offside from a corner kick, so as long as Silva had not foulled Sa, his move was determined not to affect Stones' goal.
Wolves have also previously conceded a similar goal against West Ham. After the match, captain Gary O'Neil reiterated but did not complain further about the referee's decisions. However, although he did not criticize the referee, the English coach still said it was a very harsh decision for Wolves because they were from a position with points to a draw against the defending champions.
