Did Ronaldo score a legal goal?
Monday, January 12th, 2009
Thankfully in the end it did not affect the outcome of the match, but debate is raging today over the validity of Cristiano Ronaldo’s header which was chalked off just before Nemanja Vidic headed in United’s opener.
With the first half drawing to a close, United won a corner. Wayne Rooney ran over to the flag and subtedly rolled his foot over the ball in a crafty effort to take a quick corner. No Chelsea players reacted, presumably in the belief that Rooney was leaving the kick for Ryan Giggs to take. However in reality Rooney’s intention was to restart the play and Ryan Giggs, savvy to the plan, then collected the ball and delivered a cross for Cristiano Ronaldo to score with a header.
Immediately, linesman Darren Cann waved his flag to overrule the goal and, taking instruction from his assistant, Howard Dean ruled the goal invalid. But was this this correct decision?
(UPDATE: Ronaldo’s disallowed goal, showing Rooney’s touch, can be seen here.)
Sir Alex Ferguson was insistent in his post match interview (in which he added to the war of words with Rafa Benitez) that the goal should have stood, arguing that the players are under no obligation to inform the officials of their plans beforehand. (Sir Alex’s post match interview can be seen here.)
But this is not the first time in history that the quick corner-kick trick has been put into practice, and the history books are split over whether Ronaldo’s goal should have been awarded.
Several seasons back, Croats Ivan Rakitic and Mladen Petric pulled the same stunt for FC Basel in match in the Swiss Super League. On the occasion the goal was held valid. (Video evidence here.)
Yet in last season’s Serie A match between Roma and AC Milan, the quick corner-kick trick was again put into effect, however it was deemed illegal. Then, David Pizarro ran over to the corner flag and played the role of pushing the ball just outside the arch of the corner spot. Pizarro then ran away from the ball, leaving Rodrigo Taddei to waltz over to the corner where he immediately picked up the ball and ran towards the box in an attempt to create a goal-scoring opportunity. However, on that occasion the eagle-eyed linesman quickly flagged the play and the move was disallowed by the referee.
In a video from Italian TV analysing the Pizarro-Taddei corner, the panel also showed footage from a Spanish La Liga match where yet again the quick corner-kick trick was employed and in that instance the play was deemed legal.
(Video evidence of both the Pizarro-Taddei corner and the routine from Spain can be seen here.)
So was the goal legal? The jury seems split.
22 Responses to “Did Ronaldo score a legal goal?”
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January 12th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Ronaldo’s goal was perfectly legal. We trained for this corner routine when we were 14. Can’t believe Chelsea / linesman didn’t see it coming. The linesman was wrong to disallow it. The ball is in play once it has turned one full revolution from the corner.
January 12th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
it’s only legal if the ref considers it legal!!!
January 12th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Great website! It wasnt Grashoppers Zurich. They played for FC Basel!
January 12th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
You were right about the Roma match too. Both goals were completely legal, products of the players ingenuity.
This is just like in the Champions League when Deco, already on a yellow, took a free kick quickly & received a 2nd yellow & got sent off. For thinking quickly & playing a good legal ball.
January 12th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Genius plan…but the question is…why the fuck was Rooney still in the field and ended the match without even getting a caution? He constantly argued with the ref…And he does this week in week out!
January 12th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
It’s only legal if the ref has allowed play to start when the ball is first moved.
And seconded on Rooney, what a petulant child.
January 12th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Actually Rooney got booked in 65th minute. Agree he should have been booked earlier though for kickin bosingwa then rantin at the ref. My opinion goal should have stood, and so should Ronaldo’s other goal cause he wasnt offside.
January 12th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
The rule says the ball has to move a complete circumference of the ball before another player can touch it. Can’t see from the video whether it does or not, so the only person with a good view was the linesman.
January 12th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
The ref had blown the whistle already, so play had started. If the linesman was doing his job right he would have been aware that the corner had already been taken. Prfectly legit goal in my opinion.
January 12th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
This is a trick play, one of the most brilliant things about sports. Perfectly legal and perfect to watch. Shame on the refereeing crew, as we just missed out a great goal to show to kids in order to continue the development of set piece creativity. And this is coming from an Arsenal supporter
January 12th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
I believe the problem with Giggs “corner kick” was that the ball was never placed inside the corner arc. Watch the replay again closely. The corner kick must start from inside the arc. Further to that, once the player taking the corner kick moves the ball from inside the arc, the FA rule book’s procedure states that “the kicker must not play the ball again until it has touched another
player.”
January 12th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
It doesn’t show where the kick originated from because no one was looking. It was certainly one ball length from the arc to where Giggs picked it up.
Had they mentioned it to the referees before the game, I have no doubt it would have counted.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
I also noticed Rooney’s antics. He certainly should’ve been booked earlier and if it had been anyone else he would’ve been. It seemed, perversely enough, that the ref was giving him more leeway because it was Rooney, whereas usually he’d be accused of the opposite.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Someone mentioned to me that Rooney had played the ball out from the corner to Giggs. Did anyone see that?
January 12th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
This video shows the full incident, including Rooney’s touch.
http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/1959599/
January 12th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
As I recall, the linesman said he disallowed the goal because “it wasn’t in the spirit of the game”.
What the hell does that mean? That Chelsea-United games have a spirit that only allows traditional goals? Does this mean if Rochdale plays Luton the goal is allowed? Or are these plays routinely a source of controversy?
January 12th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
OK this makes more sense now. Seeing the whole video, it’s ordered to be retaken because Rooney never stops the ball completely. By definition the ball has to be still for it to be put back into play again.
You can see the referee motioning to the United players that this was the case.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:03 am
Chris, I have to agree with you and I am a bid United fan. My argument is rooney never takes his foot off the ball, which suggests he never took the coner from still, which is illegal. However, what a wonderful ball to the near post from Giggs, and an excellent run from Ronaldo.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:59 am
This is not really about whether it’s legal or not, It’s about whether or not the officials are aware of what you’re trying to do. When you try something like this you really have to tell the officials beforehand, in case they get fooled by the same trick you’re trying to play on the other team. When rooney took the corner he made it look like he wanted giggs to take it instead, allowing giggs to take the ball without being marked by chelsea. Rooney didn’t tell the linesman he was doing it, however, so the linesman thought Rooney hadn’t taken the corner yet and was leaving it for giggs to take it. Now, you can bitch about the linesman all you want, but how was he supposed to know what they were trying to do if nobody told him? To everybody else watching the game it seemed like rooney was leaving the corner to giggs.
Honestly, even amateur players know to tell the ref before trying this kind of corner, so how come a proffesional player like rooney can’t manage it?
January 13th, 2009 at 2:07 am
OK this makes more sense now. Seeing the whole video, it’s ordered to be retaken because Rooney never stops the ball completely. By definition the ball has to be still for it to be put back into play again.
Then why does the linesman only put his flag up when giggs takes the ball, and not when Rooney takes the supposedly wrongly taken corner?
January 13th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Because if he picked it up and taken it properly there wouldn’t have been a problem, would there?
January 14th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
The ball was not still when Rooney took it,.The linesman on the other hand didn’t rule out Rooney’s kick thinking that he was just leaving it for Giggs to take.!It only dawned on the the linesman when Giggs continued playing instead of putting it for a corner.
Rooney is to blame for the blunder Otherwise it would have been a nice goal!!