Real Madrid secured an invaluable win in the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 derby clash with Atletico Madrid, courtesy of a moment of brilliance from Brahim Diaz early in the second half. However Los Colchoneros believe that the winner should not have stood.
Brahim floored Jose Maria Gimenez in the box with quick feet before finding the far corner of the net in perhaps his best moment for Real Madrid in his career. However there is a growing sentiment from Atletico Madrid fans that Vinicius Junior was offside in the build-up, and obscured Jan Oblak’s view of the shot from an offside position. Similar incidents have seen goals disallowed for interfering with play.
Brahim Díaz puts on his dancing shoes and slots it into the corner for Real Madrid 🤌 pic.twitter.com/HRq1ANfq5t
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) March 4, 2025
Real Madrid take the lead against the run of play 📈
Brilliant footwork from Brahim Díaz opens up the angle for a brilliant curling effort 👏
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/aDCdVLeaDe
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 4, 2025
It is a decision that provoked particular ire from the Rojiblanco support when compared with a previously disallowed goal for Atletico in the derby. As recently as last year, Stefan Savic saw a header chalked off due to the position of Saul Niguez in front of Andriy Lunin.
Vinicius appears to be blocking Oblak’s view right before Brahim’s goal. Last season, Atleti’s goal against Madrid got disallowed for the same action. pic.twitter.com/5YjZQByZlK
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) March 5, 2025
Former referee Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez told Cadena SER (via Relevo) that for him at least, it was a legal goal.
“Vinicius is going where the ball is not going, he is going out of the play. In life there can be interference like that. One more frame, and you see that Oblak sees the ball come off his boot.”
Yet RadioMarca’s refereeing expert Pavel Fernandez disagreed with Iturralde, perhaps suggesting that the matter was less clear.
“There was a positional offside in Brahim’s goal. It’s positional, but Vinicius is offside in the shooting line and a metre and a half from Oblak. The Atleti goalkeeper can’t see the shot because the Brazilian is in front of him. I have no doubt. It’s not the referee’s fault, the problem is that they don’t warn him from the VAR.”
Ultimately, according to the rulebook, the VAR and referee Clement Turpin had to make a judgement on whether Oblak’s vision of the shot was obstructed. The Slovenian certainly did not appeal after the incident, but neither does that mean VAR showed not have intervened.
“A player who is in an offside position when the ball touches or is played by a team-mate will only be penalised if he actively participates in play in one of the following ways: Interfering with play, by playing or touching a ball passed to or touched by a team-mate; as well as interfering with an opponent’s play in one of the following three ways.” One of those ways is preventing the defending player from “playing or being able to play the ball, by clearly obstructing the opponent’s field of vision.”
