Gary Lineker was incredulous over one ‘absurd’ refereeing decision in Liverpool’s defeat to Galatasaray on Tuesday in their Champions League round-of-16 first leg clash.
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An early header from Mario Lemina was enough to secure a 1-0 win for the home side in Istanbul, and the Reds’ plight could’ve been even worse if a disallowed Victor Osimhen goal in the second half were allowed to stand.
A VAR review concluded that, while the eventual scorer was onside, Baris Alper Yilmaz was ahead of the last defender as the ball was played in his direction; and although the Turkiye international ran towards the ball, he didn’t touch it in that passage of play.
Lineker blasts ‘absurd’ offside decision for Osimhen goal
In dissecting the midweek Champions League action, Lineker protested vociferously that the goal should’ve stood, insisting that the player who was offside had no impact on the move which led to the Nigerian netting after a ‘calamitous’ error from Ibrahima Konate in trying to clear his lines.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football, the former Match of the Day host said: “I’ve watched it 50 times and it’s absurd. There’s no impact [from Yilmaz]. It’s just a terrible, terrible decision and VAR just waved it on.
“There was no interference whatsoever. It was the wrong player as well. They got it completely wrong. I’ve double-checked it a thousand times. There was no contact and also, it wasn’t that player who went through. He had no impact on the game whatsoever.”
Was the offside decision correct?
Lineker is correct in saying that Yilmaz made ‘no contact’ with the ball in that passage of play, but could his initial attempt to latch onto Gabriel Sara’s pass (from which he was in an offside position) have been deemed as involvement in the play?
Judging by the definition of the offside law from IFAB (see below), Galatasaray’s number 53 could justifiably have been construed as active by running towards the ball, even if he didn’t actually touch it.
A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched* by a team-mate is only penalised on becoming involved in active play by:
interfering with play by playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate or
interfering with an opponent by:preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or
challenging an opponent for the ball or
clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or
making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball
Baris Alper Yilmaz is in an offside position before running towards the ball (but not touching it) from Gabriel Sara's pass
Image via TNT Sports
It’s a matter of interpretation for the officials, and we can see why the legitimacy of the disallowed goal for Osimhen has been debated, but we can also understand why it was chalked off by VAR.
Where we do agree with Lineker is his subsequent description of Liverpool’s disallowed equaliser as ‘nonsense’ (The Rest Is Football) – the ball did strike Konate’s arm, but it was unintentional contact and two other players touched it before it crossed the goalline.
Both teams may have felt aggrieved over refereeing decisions on Tuesday, and the merits of those has elicited plenty of post-match discussion.
However, the bare fact is that the Reds lost 1-0 and need to win in the return leg next week if they’re to avoid another round-of-16 exit from the Champions League, a tournament that they’re in real danger of missing out on for 2026/27 unless they improve domestically.