Was Karim Benzema’s goal correctly ruled out for offside?

While the Spanish giants Real Madrid recently won their 14th UEFA Champions League title by beating the English Premier League team Liverpool in the UCL final 2022 by 1-0, Karim Benzema’s one late first-half goal during that final game was ruled out for offside. Here we are trying to clarify that complete incident.

Due to security reasons, the UEFA Champions League Final 2022 eventually started 37 minutes later than the official schedule. The first half of that Liverpool vs Real Madrid contest ended with a 0-0 scoreline.

Karim Benzema was surprised after his goal was ruled out for offside

However, in the 43rd minute of that final match, Real Madrid star Karim Benzema successfully managed to guide the ball into the opposition net. But that was ruled out for offside, even after a lengthy check by the video assistant referee (VAR).

While unbalanced Benzema failed to deliver a proper pass to his teammate Federico Valverde inside the box, Liverpool players were desperate to clear the ball out soon. It was full of chaos inside the box as Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson, Ibrahima Konate and Fabinho were battling to keep out the ball from the Whites’ winger Valverde. Finally, that ball returned to Benzema, who beat Alisson and netted the ball.

However, the assistant referee quickly raised the offside flag. Later, VAR took some time before giving the final offside verdict in that incident.

Analysis of that incident

During the delivery moment of that ball in that Liverpool goal-line chaos, while Benzema was just completely ahead of only one Liverpool player, that goal could only be accepted if the last pass came from a Liverpool player and that too deliberately.

Though the Reds’ Fabinho had the last touch off that ball before Benzema’s ultimate strike, that ball actually deflected off the Liverpool player. As it was not a deliberate pass from Fabinho, that goal was correctly ruled out due to the offside.   

Real Madrid finally won the game thanks to Vinicius Junior’s goal

In the second half, Real Madrid’s left-winger Vinicius Junior scored the only goal of the match (59’), and Los Blancos secured the UCL 2021/22 trophy.