Gabriel Martinelli’s late equaliser was incorrectly disallowed in Arsenal’s Emirates Cup match against Borussia Dortmund on Sunday, based on analysis of fan footage.
Though the Emirates Cup is really just a friendly, Arsenal still made a strong push for a late equaliser against Borussia Dortmund on Sunday, trying to come back from 2-0 and then 3-1 down.
With just seconds remaining, Gabriel Martinelli believed he’d completed the comeback, squeezing a shot beneath the goalkeeper for 3-3. But the offside flag was up.
TV footage was inconclusive, as they didn’t have an angle in line with the play, and VAR wasn’t in use. But fan footage from the correct angle was much more useful.
Shown above, the image on the left was provided by a fan in the stands directly in line with the play, at the exact moment of Gabriel Jesus’ backheel pass.
On the right, offside lines have been added, with the red in line with the trailing foot of the last Dortmund defender, and the blue in line with Martinelli’s shoulder. It ends up being a pretty simple onside call.
With Arsenal and Dortmund holding a penalty shootout despite the Dortmund win, we know that had it ended in a draw, the Gunners would have won the Emirates Cup.
Sadly, the mistake with the offsides denied the fans in attendance an exciting late comeback victory.
Fortunately, semi-automated offside technology remains in operation for all the competitive competitions, and there’s little doubt it would have spotted and overturned this call in a serious game.
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