Last week’s Champions League clash of the titans between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid will go down as yet another crown jewel in Cristiano Ronaldo’s career. The reigning FIFA Player of the Year stepped up when his team needed him the most. Tied on aggregate in extra time, the Portuguese megastar lit up Madrid’s Santiago Bernebeu with two goals to lift his team past the German giants of Bayern and into the semi-finals of the competition. Once again, Ronaldo delivered and scored his 100th goal in the competition, the only man to reach the century mark in Europe’s biggest stage, a fantastic feat fit for a king.
Only one tiny issue, though.
Both of his goals were offsides.
Okay, now hold on just a minute. Before any Madrid fans out there smash their caps lock button to the ground and claim this is just another article talking about how Ronaldo gets every call to go his way and this is just another guy who thinks his rival Messi is better (which he is, fight me) I can promise you this is the complete opposite of that. In fact, I feel bad for the man with the ugly statue, on a night where all eyes should’ve been on him and his fantastic achievement. Instead we were talking about people who don’t touch the ball the entire game.
All the headlines after what was a thrilling game were focused on the referees. The missed offside calls weren’t the only issue. Bayern felt robbed after key player Arturo Vidal was sent off with a red card the team felt was unnecessary. In fact, Bayern was so upset with the calls they filed a complaint to UEFA about the officiating.
The issue of missed calls and incorrectly allowed or disallowed goals has been a problem with the refs and soccer for decades. Even a decade ago, the only solution for players and fans alike was to get over the human mistake the ref committed and move on to the next game. However, now there is a way for those mistakes to be nullified and for calls to go less unnoticed. It’s time for instant replay to be instituted in the game of soccer.
To request every play or missed call to be under review would be ludicrous. Soccer is already 90 minutes and then some, and if every call in every game was looked at twice it would make soccer games unbearable. Instant replay needs to start somewhere, though, and what a better place to dip its toes in the pool than in the biggest pool there is: the Champions League.
In games with such high caliber and star-studded teams, the contest usually comes down to one play or one stroke of luck. With such even teams, it does become all the more frustrating when the reason some of the best players in the game are sent home packing is because of a couple of crucial missed calls.
Instant replay can save those frustrating scenarios from occurring. And there are ways for the game to add replays without harming the pace of the game, either. The two scenarios instant replay should begin with are missed penalties and offside calls on goals. In both situations the game is already halted, why not allow a manager to challenge whether a goal is offside or if the penalty should occur? At that point the game isn’t halted further and usually the call is either held or overturned quickly. Hell, if a scrub like me can determine if a call is correct or not after one replay, the best officials in the world can do it too. Give the managers one challenge each to start the game. If they challenge a call and their challenge fails, they lose the challenge for the rest of the game, no matter what missed calls proceed in the game. If the call is correct, the manager is allowed to keep the challenge and continue to fight missed calls.
It’s a shame how often a great game is overshadowed by a missed call. What is more frustrating is how there is a solution to solve those calls and no action was taken. FIFA did the same with goal-line technology until there were enough outcries to include it in games. Now, the sport is faced with similar outcries to make matches better and for fans to not look past terrific matches due to one mistake over 90 minutes.
