You've not heard of him? One of the biggest things the Premier League has ever seen.

You mean one of the biggest idiots.

& he looks like every Englishman going

/indirect racism.

what a complete tosser. what the hell is his problem

I still can't believe Dortmund didn't score a single goal.

I hope Dortmund makes it to the final. They lack one clean finisher and one special defender alla Sammer to be class again. Really hope they pull out a miracle.

I actually meant one of the biggest thugs, not things.

Even better.

Gotze is a formidable player. I wish we could sign him. He'd be the perfect player to support Balo and SES.

Weidenfeller (?) just saved Dortmund's @ss with a super save.

I would love to get him but I think Dortmund would want 40-50m...

Dortmund are out.

Dortmund missed two great chances to take the lead and Malaga's goal was offside but well done to Malaga. After all the problems they had with ownership, to reach the semis is big.

THEY ARE NOT!!! 3-2!! WHAT A COMEBACK!!

Incredible.

Unbelievable match. This is how CL can be amazing, if Barcelona and Real are not involved.

Goosebumps all over.. what a game!! game of the season so far. hats off to Dortmund and Klopp, incredible team!! they knew they would win it. I want that mentality at Milan, we look like a bunch of depressed losers in comparison.

I know which team I'm supporting to go all the way and win it. I hope they draw Madrid and kick their *** once more! don't want The Arrogant Ones win their 10th. or The Divers their 5th.

Yep, it was the mentality which made the difference here. If we had conceded in the 82' we'd have fallen apart, but Dortmund kept pushing and pushing and succeeded in the end.

By the way, wasn't the final goal offside?

Yeah but Malaga's goal was offside too.

Malaga's goal wasn't offside.. are you sure? are you talking about that final pass and the tap in or before that?

As for Dortmund's goal, when the initial cross was sent many Dortmund players were in offside, but it was Demichelis who headed the ball to the Dortmund player who assisted the goal. maybe that wasn't offside either but I'm not sure.

I'm pretty sure. Eliseu was in a small offside so he shouldn't have touched the ball.

But the player who assisted it was ahead of the last defender when he made the pass IIRC. that's not offside.

Two Malaga players were against Dortmunds keeper but during the pass the receiving player shoud be behind the ball (he wasn't). Watch it again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8DshVBHpJI

Yeah, Eliseu's goal was definitively offside.

We're in sync. Exactly my thoughts. German final please!

That would be awesome.

Arbeloa is a moron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU0q5UWOnrk

It's stupid that things like that are red cards. If I were Arbeloa I'd have just took about 40 minutes to walk off the pitch.

I agree 100%. It is ridiculous that refs get to act like gods on the pitch and retaliate like toddlers when their feelings are hurt. There is absolutely nothing wrong with questioning a refs call in a nonthreatening way. Emotions run high and it is perfectly natural to react when you think a decision was too harsh. In my opinion, what Arbeloa did is harmless and no where near as bad as the "surround the ref and ***** at him" routine that Barca loves to pull.

It's not offside.



It doesn't matter whether the receiving player is ahead or behind the ball. what counts is whether he's "onside" with the assisting teammate when the pass is made. here, both of them were ahead of the last defender hence not an offside.

Eliseu is ahead of everything though! The pass goes forward, he's ahead of his teammate (using the pitch cuttings as a guideline), the ball and the last defender. I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure this is offside to the letter of the law. That diagram is pretty inaccurate too at the point of B to C, as C is ahead of B and the ball doesn't go laterally or as indicated on the diagram backwards.

^ Yeah. Eliseu © was ahead of Baptista (B2) when he made the final pass. It was clearly an offside.

Baptista was ahead of the last defender too. I swear it's not offside!

That diagram is from FIFA's laws of the game PDF! the only thing accurate about it is the misspelling of "is" instead of "in" in the first sentence! look at it again, it's not inaccurate.

Player A makes a forward pass, player B moves from B1 to B2 to receive it, and then passes backwards (or forwards, doesn't matter) to player C. exactly like Malaga's goal last night.

But in this diagram it would be fine, it's a fair goal as C is behind the ball.

However C (last night) was ahead of the ball! Without the last defender there the ball is basically your offside line - as far as I'm aware, so your team-mate has to be level or behind it at the point of the pass if he goes onto receive it.

Again, Eliseu was ahead of Baptista who made the final pass, hence offside.

I can't believe you guys!

Read the rule, it's really simple. when both players (assisting, receiving) are ahead or before the last defender, they're onside, they're on the same, ie when one passes to the other, it can't be offside. because they're not gaining any advantage, they're already ahead of the last defender.



What I said ^^^.

Baptista is ahead of the last defender himself. it's not offside.

Dude, you're making this too complicated.

http://youtu.be/n8DshVBHpJI?t=7s

At this precise moment Eliseu is ahead of Baptista who's assisting him, how on earth is not that an offside???

Because Baptista is ahead of the last defender himself. if he was behind the last defender, it was offside. but Baptista and Eliseu are both ahead of the last defender.

I've seen tens of similar goals (tap-ins from assists made by a teammate who was ahead of the last defender). none of them were rules offside.


Did any reliable source even mention that this was offside?

Unless the offline rule has changed completely in recent years once the 2nd last defender (goalkeeper counts as one too) is not in the equation the ball itself becomes your offside line, the offside rule doesn't get completely ignored after this point, hasn't ever done since it's inception am I right in saying?

The goals you have seen that are legit are because the players are behind the ball when the ball is passed across for a tap-in. In this diagram you linked it's fine because the player is behind the ball and yes that matters even when there's just a goalkeeper left as far as I'm aware.

Though, obviously if the players are always ahead of the ball and you've seen the goals, feel free to link them here. The rule may have changed without me knowing?

I thought both that goal by Malaga and the winning goal Dortmund scored were offside.

Don't usually use Wiki as a good source but this is how I understand it --



The blue forward in the penalty box of the diagram is not in an offside position, as he is behind the ball, despite the fact that he is in front of all but one of his opponents.

The dotted line indicates the offside line.

I completely understand what you guys are trying to say, but I've seen similar goals and that's why I insist on it. I'll try to find links though it's hard when you want to look for something like this.

It doesn't matter where Baptista is, what matters is that when he makes the pass, Eliseu is ahead of the ball and ahead of all defenders, which automatically puts him offside.



One Spanish paper after the game said that both goals were offside. I haven't really checked other sources.



Exactly.

This is no different to the diagram I posted. but where does it mention that if the blue forward in the box is ahead of the ball, it's offside?


Either I'm simplifying a complicated rule, or you guys are complicating a simple rule. there's no other way.



And if what you say is true, how on earth can the referee and his assistant not rule something to blatantly obvious offside? it's not like a normal offside where mistakes can happen, it's very obvious as Eliseu is much ahead of everyone and taps it in.

Nah we're not complicating it, I think you're just confusing yourself to be honest pal! Think about it, if the dotted line was the imaginary offside line (the level of the ball) and the blue player is ahead of the ball - then he's ahead of the offside line, thus being offside.

The offside line does NOT carry with the closest opposition player to the goal, it stays with the ball.

As for your last paragraph I think that's what we all thought too! Dortmund got their fair share of luck with their last goal though.

What's confusing me is the images of similar goals in my mind where a forward pass is like this one is tapped in and the goal is stood. that and goals like this where ref's act like blind men.

Well, the mind is a tricky thing. I guess those goals where irregular as well or your memory is playing with you. Anyhow, this Eliseu goal is offside.

They must have probably been close calls.

Zed, it's time to give up, it was 100% offside.

I give up! 1-0 to you guys.

The rule is still somewhat of a nightmare anyway mate! The fact it can cause some confusion to hardcore football fans just proves that.

Anyway, looking forward to the games tonight, chose the good one last night (not that there was a particularly bad one). Really, really tempted to watch the Juve game though, even though the score is 0-2 on agg still think it will be better for the neutral than the Barca game.