Real Madrid boss says 'I've never seen anything like this' after 'goal' not given due to ultra-rare incident
The referee during Real Madrid's 1-1 Women's Champions League draw against Manchester City had to stop play late on due to a rarely-seen incident - seconds before Real put the ball into the back of the net.
Los Blancos briefly thought they had won the game in the 89th minute when young left-back Silvia Cristobal fired superbly into the top left corner, but an accidental infringement by referee Silvia Gasperotti meant that play had already been stopped by the time she struck the ball.
During the build-up to the Real attack, Gasperotti had inadvertently blocked the run of Manchester City winger Beth Mead, which stopped her from closing down Cristobal before her shot. The goal was therefore correctly, by IFAB's Laws of the Game, not given - though Real, and particularly their head coach Pau Quesada, were not happy at the time.
'I've never seen anything like this...' - Real Madrid react to goal not given
The incident sparked angry scenes among the Real Madrid bench, with Quesada and captain Athenea del Castillo - who had earlier been substituted off - leading the complaints.
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On the pitch, Real players surrounded the referee before she was able to restart play with a Manchester City drop ball.
Speaking afterwards, Quesada said his anger surrounded the fact that Gasperotti had blown her whistle to stop play before Cristobal could shoot, therefore denying VAR the chance to review the incident - though it should have disallowed the goal in any case.
"I've never seen anything like this in my life," he said. "The referee is a great person, but they know they should have let the play finish."
The interference meant that, crucially, Mead was unable to close Cristobal down to stop her from shooting or even get to the ball first, which she likely would have been able to do otherwise.
Speaking on ESPN, former Manchester City centre-back Nedum Onuoha said the referee made the right decision to stop play, and did not understand Real's complaints.
"Real Madrid went on to score, but in real time you can see the referee put the whistle straight to her mouth," he said. "As a consequence, you can even hear the whistle.
"I think it's one of those ones where it's almost like a free hit. You've had the shot, you can cause the... not controversy as such, but you can make an argument that almost distracts from what had been a, I thought, poor second half from Real Madrid.
"I think overall, the ref got the moment right. I don't really see that as being too controversial, to be honest.
"You can talk about whether it's the right call or the wrong call, but we're talking about her blowing the whistle, which she still did either way. We spend all this time going, 'play to the whistle, play to the whistle'. Well, this is the example on the other side, which should be followed as well."
"I do think it's the right call, because the position of the referee interferes so much with where Beth Mead is that she cannot pressure. So if the referee had been two metres away from where she was, we would not have seen this goal," former Netherlands international Merel van Dongen said.
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What IFAB laws say about Real Madrid 'goal' not given
Lawe 9 of IFAB's Laws of the Game states that, if a player from Team A (in this case, Real Madrid) passes the ball and it touches the referee outside the penalty area, but Team A start a 'promising attack' - which could be defined by the subsequent run and goal from Cristobal - then the match official should stop play and award a drop ball.
"In this case, play is restarted with a dropped ball for one player of the team that would have retained or gained possession if the ball had not touched the referee," the Law states.
"The ball is dropped at the position where the ball made contact with the referee."
Topics: Real Madrid, Womens Football, Man City, Champions League
Ryan Smart