Every day of Ligue 1 has its controversy. If OM are in 3rd place in the standings this Monday morning at the end of the 16th day of the French Football Championship, and will therefore spend the end-of-year holidays on the podium, they owe it to a goal from the inevitable Mason Greenwood (his 11th achievement this season) synonymous with victory over Monaco (1-0), Sunday evening at the Vélodrome. But he also owes it to an arbitration decision that gets people talking.
While the score was still 0-0, Monegasque Lamine Camara opened the scoring in the 51st minute with a beautiful recovery. But the joy was short-lived for the Monegasques since François Letexier, with the assistance of the VAR, refused the goal for an offside by Folarin Balogun.
If the latter was indeed in an illegal position, too advanced at the start of the action, he did not seem to weigh on the game and even less on the goal a few seconds later.
“We can’t do anything about certain decisions, the referees decide”
Lamine Camara did not hide his incomprehension, his helplessness, at the end of the meeting. “We train for this kind of matches and we can’t do anything about certain decisions,” lamented the Senegalese player, who will soon join his team to play in the CAN. The goal was disallowed for offside. We watched the footage in the locker room and until now we don’t understand how they can cancel this goal. We can’t do anything about certain decisions, the referees decide. We did some very good things in this match and we will build on that to move forward. »
A speech that echoes that of his trainer. “I don’t want to discuss refereeing decisions (a second goal was also canceled at the end of the match for an indisputable offside)”, indicated Sébastien Pocognoli, “very disappointed” but fair play, after the defeat. And added: “I don’t have time to focus on that. I have a team to improve. The referees are colleagues and I don’t want to waste energy and criticize colleagues. It’s part of what drags us down, but it is what it is. »
Was Balogun playing a game?
On social networks, on the other hand, many football fans did not understand this decision. According to article 11 of the International Football Association Board (Ifab), the body which governs the rules of play of the game, devoted to the offside position, a player must be reported in violation according to several criteria.
Either if he intervenes “in the game, because he plays or touches the ball passed or touched by a teammate” or “by interfering with an opponent, because he prevents an opponent from playing or being in a position to play the ball by clearly obstructing his field of vision; or he competes for the ball; or he clearly attempts to play a ball that is nearby while this action influences the reaction of an opponent; or he performs an obvious action that clearly influences an opponent’s ability to play the ball. »
Game situations which however do not seem to concern Folarin Balogun, who does not participate in the action which leads to his partner’s goal.
This is not the first time that refereeing decisions have been questioned this season. Following PSG’s victory on OL’s pitch in early November, Lyon midfielder Corentin Tolisso proposed “a meeting with all the captains” of the championship to discuss refereeing in France, after questioning his level. This new controversy will be one more argument.
