By 90Min
November 04, 2018

Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has weighed in on the debate over the Sadio Mane goal that was disallowed on Saturday as Liverpool played Arsenal at the Emirates on Saturday.

The sides played out to a 1-1 draw, with Alexandre Lacazette and James Milner nicking the goals for their teams. But things could have ended up quite differently had the Senegalese's goal been allowed to stand.


Mane thought he put  Liverpool ahead after putting a rebound in from Roberto Firmino's toe poke that hit the post. But he was judged to be in an offside position when his teammate touched the ball, despite replays proving otherwise.

Journalist Tony Bekederemo tweeted an argument for the linesman after having a look at the rule. However, Clattenburg responded with a claim for Mane.

"Pls note @Datoun @Arsenal @LFC @premierleague @alanshearer and others! Mane was offside according to the law," Bekederemo tweeted."The goal was rightly disallowed. The end of story!"

"Tony, I disagree," Clattenburg replied. "1st phase: Mane was in an offside position from the first ball in but does not impact on a defenders ability to play ball as Firmino is onside. Play on. Then Firmino pulls the ball back to Mane who is standing behind the ball and cannot be deemed offside. Goal!"

Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, has rued the ruling and obviously agrees the goal should have stood. However, he didn't blame the decision for his team dropping two points.

“I think it was a goal. So, do I feel aggrieved? I’m not sure. I think it should have been a goal, that’s how it is, it’s a football situation,” he said, via Standard Sport.

“When I was a player, the offside rule was different, so if somebody was in the area where the ball went down then the ref whistled.

Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/GettyImages

“Now it’s a situation, we all know that when he watch a game, the ball is going and one player is offside and nobody whistles and he’s going to the ball because he thinks he’s not offside and then the ref whistles."

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