FC Bayern secured three crucial points with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at SV Elversberg. However, a play that occurred shortly before halftime has sparked debate. According to former Bundesliga referee Manuel Gräfe, the Munich team got very lucky on that play.
Elversberg had seemingly scored the equalizer shortly before halftime. However, Cole Campbell’s goal was disallowed due to an offside call. Even after an extended review by the VAR, the decision stood.
Aleksandar Pavlovic was at the center of the action. For Gräfe, Pavlovic’s first header was decisive—because, in his view, it would have opened up a new phase of play.
“There was a long ball from the defense. An Elversberg player was barely offside but was three to four meters away from Pavlović. The Elversberg player moved further away from Pavlović, and Pavlović had all the time in the world to position himself to clear the ball cleanly with his head,” Gräfe explained to BILD.
Gräfe would have expected the VAR to intervene
However, Pavlović was unable to clear the ball cleanly. His first header went uncontrolled into the air, forcing the Bayern player to go for the ball again. It was only then that the Elversberg player, who had previously been offside, intervened once more.
That is precisely why Gräfe is critical of the offside call. “In that sense, it’s a new play by Pavlović. That’s also why the review took so long—because they were thinking exactly the same thing in Cologne,” the former Bundesliga referee explained.
Accordingly, the VAR had to assess whether the decision on the field had been clearly and obviously wrong. In the end, however, the goal was disallowed.
Gräfe would have liked to see the call corrected: “It would have been desirable, however—in the interest of consistent offside interpretation—to rule it as not offside.”
For the 52-year-old, the key point is that Pavlovic had enough time and distance from his opponent on the first header to deliberately play the ball. The technical error in controlling the ball should not subsequently lead to the original offside position becoming relevant again.
“Good luck to Bayern here”
“Then there was that technical error in the control, and after that it doesn’t matter whether the Elversberg player goes back in, because there was now a new pass,” Gräfe explained.
Even the fact that the Elversberg player went into another duel with Pavlovic on the second header does not change the referee expert’s assessment.
“In that respect, it was a deliberate new header, and thus the offside position no longer applies. That technical error should not have led to an offside call,” Gräfe clarified.
His conclusion is correspondingly clear: “In that respect, good luck to Bayern here.”
For the record champions, the decision was quite important. Instead of a 1-1 tie, they went into halftime with the lead. Later, Maurice Krattenmacher did manage to equalize for Elversberg, but Harry Kane scored the winning goal to give Munich a 2-1 victory. In Gräfe’s assessment, however, the match could have taken a different turn even before halftime.