Empoli player Tyronne Ebuehi thought he had scored on his birthday in this evening’s Serie A match with Torino, but it was ruined by perhaps the tightest offside call in football history.
The Nigeria international anticipated Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to tap in the Sebastiano Luperto knockdown and seemingly cancel out Duvan Zapata’s opener at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino.
However, after a very long wait for VAR to fully examine the footage, news came through his 28th birthday goal had been disallowed for offside.
When the Lega Serie A released the image provided by the Semi-Automatic Offside technology, it was truly a matter of millimetres, as a sliver on the side of his boot was peeking out from the line.
Only those parts of the body that can be used to legally score a goal can be considered offside, so the arm was irrelevant.
Empoli coach Aurelio Andreazzoli was shown the image and decided to take it philosophically rather than complain about the incredibly close call.
“Ebuehi has wide feet…” the coach told Sky Sport Italia with a smile and a shrug.
“I was more concerned talking to the referee about whether the rule still exists where the goalkeeper cannot hold the ball for over six seconds. Because rules are rules, otherwise we are just taking people for a ride.”