Why Benzema’s goal against Liverpool was ACTUALLY offside

The biggest talking point in the first half of the 2022 UEFA Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid came on the stroke of half-time.

Karim Benzema appeared to have opened the scoring for Real Madrid at the Stade De France but his joy was cut short by the linesman and confirmed by the centre referee after a lengthy VAR check.

Benzema’s goal appeared to be perfectly okay at first glance and even with multiple looks from different angles, most football fans still believe it was onside.

But here is why French referee, Clement Turpin and his VAR team were right to disallow the goal.

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Benzema raced onto a pass after cleverly beating the offside and seemingly having a clear path to goal but was uncharacteristically lacking in composure at the crucial moment.

But the Frenchman benefited from a mix up at the back and tucked home the ball after it had ricocheted into his path but was then ruled offside.

Benzema was behind Alison and slightly ahead of Virgil Van Dijk but was offside according to the offside rule despite Andy Robertson being well ahead on the line.

Under normal circumstances, it would have been onside because the ball deflected off Fabinho into Benzema’s path and the offside wouldn’t have mattered.

But the offside rule states that there must be at least two opposing players between the ball and the goal when the ball is received which invalidates the fact that the ball came off Fabinho in the first place.