Revealed - Why offside check took two minutes in Sassuolo vs Inter ...

An offside check in a Serie A match between Sassuolo and Inter Milan took a couple of minutes despite a fairly clear offside.

Today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews, reveal that this was because the VAR were actually deciding upon whether a Sassuolo player had played the ball.

Inter thought that they had given themselves an equalizer just before halftime in yesterday’s match against Sassuolo.

It was captain Lautaro Martinez who stuck the ball into the back of the net for the Nerazzurri.

This seemed like a big turning point in a match where Inter were headed for a surprise defeat.

But it was not to be. The reason was that Martinez was actually in an offside position when he scored the goal.

However, the wait to confirm that fact took longer than many would have expected.

The replays showed that Martinez was fairly clearly offside.

The Inter captain was leaning what looked like almost half a metre past the last Sassuolo defender.

Therefore, it probably should not have taken more than a couple seconds to determine conclusively that Martinez had been offside and disallow the goal.

And it didn’t, in fact. With the semi-automated offside technology in Serie A, the VAR saw more or less instantaneously that Martinez had been offside.

But it took a little bit longer for the officials to verify that decision.

The reason was that the ball had deflected off of a Sassuolo defender immediately before it reached Martinez.

Inter wingback Carlos Augusto had played the ball to Martinez.

And the Brazilian’s cross hit the thigh of Sassuolo defender Jeremy Toljan.

The VAR officials took some time to consider whether the German’s challenge had been a deliberate play of the ball that would have nullified the offside.

In the end, the officials came to the conclusion that it was not. Inter’s celebrations were, belatedly, cut short.