The equalizing goal for RB Leipzig against Union Berlin on match day 20 of the Bundesliga is annulled for offside. But was that really preceded by an uncontrolled action by Berlin’s Aissa Laidouni, as the referee judges? Or is the Leipzig coach correct in his assessment?
On the 20th matchday of the Bundesliga, there was not only a lot of discussion about the video assistants, but also about the interpretation of the offside rule in a special area. In the game between RB Leipzig and 1. FC Union Berlin (1: 2), referee Daniel Schlager annulled Yussuf Poulsen’s supposed Leipzig equalizer to make it 2: 2 after 80 minutes after an on-field review because he had accused Timo Werner rated as punishable. Werner had received the ball from an unsuccessful defensive action by Berlin’s Aissa Laidouni, for the referee this action was not a controlled game of the ball.
That goal would have counted last season. Because deliberately playing the ball by a defender after an attacker had passed it – the concise English rule term “deliberate play” has also prevailed in Germany – canceled an opponent’s offside position. Whether that defender played the ball in a controlled manner was immaterial. It was just that he wanted to play it in the first place and achieved it, however slightly and with whatever subsequent (failure) success.
This interpretation of the rules was criticized because in some games it led to goals being counted – rightly so – in terms of rules, where hardly anyone could understand why the offside was lifted. A prominent example of this is Kylian Mbappé’s winning goal in the Nations League final between France and Spain in October 2021. Mbappé was clearly offside near the penalty area when a teammate passed it on, but because a Spanish defender touched the ball slightly during an uncontrolled rescue attempt without the changed direction, the offside was ruled out and the subsequent goal counted.
For this season, the text of the rules themselves was not changed, but the rule interpretation of “deliberate play” was changed by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) and Fifa. “Deliberate” has since included the aspect of the defender’s control of the ball and body, which previously played no role. This is precisely the point of contention when evaluating Laidouni’s defensive action. After a long, high ball from Leipzig in the middle of the Union half, the Berliner initially ran a few steps backwards and kept an eye on the ball. He ended up heeling it unorthodoxly, stretching his right leg back as the ball passed overhead.
But he didn’t hit the ball properly, which got to Timo Werner, who was offside. A few seconds later, Poulsen scored, which called video assistant Tobias Reichel into action. Referee Schlager didn’t stay long at the monitor before making his decision: the goal was annulled. “You can’t play the ball in such a controlled manner with the heel,” said the game director later in an interview. Laidouni initially had an eye on the ball, “but at the end, where he plays the ball with his heel, he does it in an uncontrolled way because he doesn’t see the ball”. That was “the decisive criterion” for the referee.
Schlager didn’t see the way Laidouni went about his business as an unnecessary circus act that went wrong: “At the moment he can’t play the ball any other way than with the heel. He didn’t have the time to turn around and close orientate.” For the referee, an essential “deliberate play” criterion was not met, namely that which states: “The player had time to coordinate his body movements (that means: no instinctive stretching, jumping or other movements with limited ball touch/control).”
Leipzig coach Marco Rose did not accept the argument that Laidouni was unable to play the ball in a controlled manner in this situation. “The boys can juggle the heel without seeing the ball 20 times if they want,” he said. “Nobody can tell me that this player didn’t control the ball with his heel, wanted to play it consciously. He wants to play the ball with his heel in control. Period. He wasn’t shot or anything.”
That means: From Rose’s point of view, the possibility of control was given, it only failed because the player made a technical mistake. Former FIFA referee Manuel Graefe sees it similarly. He wrote on Twitter that Laidouni saw the ball, he “could have positioned himself differently to the ball and played it clean, but ducked and chose this variant and failed”. The ball had been on the road long enough and was clearly visible.
In fact, according to the new interpretation of the rules by IFAB and FIFA, there is “deliberate play” when a player has the opportunity to play the ball in a controlled manner – or to receive it or hit it away – but fails to do so. It is a thankless and sometimes difficult task for the referees to judge that. It is obvious that Laidouni played the ball uncontrollably. But was that because he simply screwed up control, as Rose and Gräfe think? Or because he had no real control over the ball coming up at him and finally flying over him in the backward movement, as Schlager judges?
The footballing and the rule-technical interpretation obviously differ from each other here. Laidouni was not particularly well positioned in the situation in question and had also misjudged running backwards. As a result, he could no longer reach the high ball with his head, which led to the daring – and in the end actually instinctive – attempt to play it behind his back with his heel. Depending on the situation, that was probably the only way to get the ball. However, acting in a controlled manner here is a challenge, especially when moving backwards, which places additional demands on balance.
Did Laidouni get himself into trouble with moderate defensive behavior? That is possible – but difficult for the referee to assess. On the other hand, what he could clearly see was one player failing to get his head on a high ball and then attempting acrobatics. That went wrong, and it is understandable that Daniel Schlager’s judgment was: No “deliberate play” because the ball was not played in a controlled manner and there was not clearly a technical error on the part of the player.
The same situation would have been much easier to evaluate under the old interpretation of the rules, and it is generally more difficult for the referees if they now have to include another criterion in their judgment in addition to the intention – namely that of control. The new interpretation has also only shifted the gray area – with it there are no more absurd goals like Mbappé’s, but it creates other disputes and borderline cases. By the way, Daniel Schlager can tell you a thing or two about it: he had to make a similarly tricky and heatedly discussed “deliberate play” decision on matchday 14 in the match between VfL Bochum and Borussia Mönchengladbach (2-1).
