There was a great deal of confusion over why the last-gasp Udinese equaliser was disallowed against Milan, so we look at the VAR protocol in these situations.
The Rossoneri were down to 10 men and leading 1-0 with a Samuel Chukwueze goal when Christian Kabasele nodded in the rebound from a parried Jurgen Ekkelenkamp effort.
Following a long wait, VAR called referee Daniele Chiffi over for an On-Field Review, where he ruled the goal had to be disallowed for offside.
There was confusion because in general an offside position is objective and can therefore be decided by the VAR without the need for an On-Field Review at the monitor.
Why VAR needed referee to evaluate Milan-Udinese goal
However, when the offside position has to be evaluated as interfering with play, then the referee needs to make that decision.
In this case, the chaotic move left some doubt because before the ball came to Ekkelenkamp, it came off the head of Strahinja Pavlovic.
If the Milan defender had intentionally played the ball rather than simply deflected it, then that could’ve negated the offside.
At the same time, Ekkelenkamp in an offside position with his move could’ve ‘forced’ Pavlovic into intervening.
This was the situation that the referee had to evaluate, as the VAR had already ascertained that Ekkelenkamp’s toes were offside.
#MilanUdinese | tantissimi episodi oggi a San Siro.
Partiamo dalla fine: perché l’arbitro viene richiamato a On Field Review anche se c’è una posizione oggettiva di fuorigioco?
Perché prima che #Ekkelenkamp colpisca il pallone (3), c’è un colpo di testa di #Pavlović (2) che… pic.twitter.com/cmQDsl6K7S— Denis Errori Arbitrali (@erroriarbitrali) October 19, 2024
I hope Uefa saw this bad refree and never gives him a champions Leauge game. He was very poor through the whole game.