Karim Benzema’s goal for Real Madrid was ruled offside against Liverpool in the Champions League Final by the Italian VAR crew because of the way Fabinho touched the ball.
The incident occurred on the stroke of half-time, when Fabinho knocked it backwards into the path of Benzema, who was beyond all but one player on the field, including the goalkeeper.
It required a very long VAR check before confirmation at the Stade de France that the goal was offside by VAR Jerome Brisard and Willy Delajod of France, Massimiliano Irrati and Filippo Meli of Italy.
The decision caused controversy, as Fabinho did get the final touch and therefore in theory Benzema could not be offside.
However, it was decided Fabinho touched the ball amid a challenge, he did not deliberately play the ball, therefore it did not count for offside purposes.
The word ‘deliberate’ is in the IFAB rules on offside.
“A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately plays the ball, including by deliberate handball, is not considered to have gained an advantage, unless it was a deliberate save by any opponent.”
In theory, the referee should’ve been sent to the monitor for an on-field review, because the VAR can only rule on objective issues, whereas an offside interfering with play or an offside that depends on this ‘deliberate’ reading should be decided by the referee.
It’s also entirely possible that the VAR took the first touch from Valverde as the moment they calculated the offside, but then it probably shouldn’t have taken that long to evaluate.