In the 5th minute of injury time at Molineux, Man City were awarded a corner kick when the score was 1-1. It was considered the last chance for them to win 3 points in the context of Arsenal's painful loss to Bournemouth. If Man City also lost points against Wolves, they would miss the opportunity to "cut the tail" of their opponents.
Phil Foden took the corner kick. After the English midfielder crossed the ball, John Stones headed it into the net to make it 2-1. That moment from the 30-year-old centre-back made the 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 signaled not to recognize the goal.
The linesman eventually raised his flag to signal a foul on City’s part. After consulting his assistants, Kavanagh confirmed that Bernardo Silva, who was in front of Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa, had interfered while in an offside position.
It was not until VAR referee Stuart Attwell checked the video and asked Chris Kavanagh to review it that Man City breathed a sigh of relief. After that, the main referee decided to still recognize the away team's goal and The Citizens got 3 dramatic points.
From a legal perspective, there are two main points referees need to consider when assessing whether a goal should be awarded when a player is in an offside position and may have influenced the play.
In case 1, if a player in an offside position moves to obstruct an opponent or impede the opponent's movement towards the ball, the referee will blow for 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 for the challenge, not for offside.
In the case of Bernardo Silva, the Premier League had to explain this rule again on the official X page, via the Match Center account. After that, the controversy did not arise again.
From the organisers’ point of view, the most notable aspect of this incident was Bernardo Silva’s position and actions as the Portuguese striker was in Jose Sa’s line of sight. It was difficult for the referees because Silva did not attempt to get involved and did not appear to be in Sa’s line of sight when Stones touched the ball. However, Silva appeared to have made contact with Sa as soon as the ball left Foden’s feet at the corner.
But referees cannot blow for offside from a corner so as long as Silva did not foul Sa, his movement was determined not to have affected Stones' goal.
Wolves had previously conceded a similar goal against West Ham. After the match, manager 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 went from having a point to having nothing against the defending champions.
