WHY DE BRUYNE’S EQUALISING GOAL AT BERNABEU SHOULD NOT HAVE STOOD

Fresh photos from last night’s game indicate that Real Madrid should have been awarded a throw-in during the previous phase of play. 

Tuesday night in the Bernabeu, De Bruyne struck a magnificent goal to earn Manchester City a 1-1 draw. However, Carlo Ancelotti felt aggrieved because the video assistant referee (VAR) did not stop the ball from going out of play during the goal's development.

Vinicius Junior's incredible goal gave Los Blancos the lead in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal after they withstood an early City storm.

Midway through the second half, Pep Guardiola's team also scored against the odds, this time with a goal from De Bruyne that was nearly identical to Vinicius'.

De Bruyne's cross was blocked towards the conclusion of the phase of play, but Man City promptly regained control, setting up the Belgian's equalizer.

Although Bernardo Silva was found to have barely maintained the ball in play on the sideline in the half-minute or so before the equalizer, Real Madrid had objected that the ball had gone out of play at that time.

Prior to the goal, Real Madrid objected to the decision not to award a throw-in, and they were much more furious afterwards. Carlo Ancelotti received a card as a result.

Ancelotti, who was incensed, remarked in his post-game press conference: "It was out. It's not just me saying it, it's technology saying it. I think it's strange. I don't understand why they did not use VAR."

The use of VAR in such a situation is unusual but not unprecedented; for example, Real Madrid famously had a goal against them disallowed during their 4-1 home loss to Ajax in 2019 because it was unclear from the images whether the ball had left the field prior to the visitors' third goal of the game.

But in the end, De Bruyne's strike originated from a fresh phase of play, thus it was out of the scope of VAR regardless.