13 October 2023 , 12:32
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A UEFA insider has confirmed referee Serdar Gozubuyuk made a key mistake by not signalling for offside when Scott McTominay 's goal against Spain was controversially disallowed.
McTominay thought he had scored a stunning free-kick in the 59th minute to put Scotland ahead in Seville. But it was referred to VAR for a check and was subsequently disallowed for an alleged foul on Spain keeper Unai Simon.
But UEFA later revealed the goal had actually been ruled out for an offside against Scotland defender Jack Hendry. That caused confusion, with Gozubuyuk having failed to correctly signal that decision with an upright arm.
According to The Scottish Sun, that was a key error from the Dutchman, who had signalled instead for a foul. A UEFA source confirmed that the correct decision had actually been offside against Hendry.
“The referee’s decision at the free-kick was for offside. After the on-field review, the decision was offside as the attacking player (Jack Hendry) was touching and standing in front of the goalkeeper," the source said.
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“Therefore, according to Law 11 for Offside, the attacker impacted on his opponent - the goalkeeper - playing or attempting to play the ball.”
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Ref Serdar Gozubuyuk wrongly signalled for a foul when disallowing Scott McTominay's goal (Fran Santiago/Getty Images)Gozubuyuk's failure to signal an offside caused confusion both on the pitch and in the stands. The stadium's official scoreboard showed a message saying the goal had been disallowed for a foul.
The decision proved to be crucial, with Alvaro Morata and Oihan Sancet scoring to claim a 2-0 win for the hosts. Scotland were left furious, with midfielder John McGinn blasting the referee.
“It's very difficult to win here and, under the circumstances, it was near enough impossible. You need to be very careful what you say. I think everyone watching that game tonight from a Scotland point of view, wherever you were, it just felt like we weren't getting any decisions," he said.
"You need a perfect performance here to win, everything to align, and it was just never going to happen. He [the referee] changed it in-game, which is the frustrating thing, which shows it wasn't clear and obvious.
“I don't know if clear and obvious is a European VAR thing, but at that moment, Jack makes a decision to step to the other side, maybe he could stay. Is he going to save it? Absolutely no chance. No goalkeeper in the world is going to save that.
"However, he's saying at one point it's a foul, he then changes it to offside, because he realises it isn't a foul, and it's a big, big moment. That goal qualifies us, because they need to score two, so it is a bit of a hammer blow, it is tough to take, but sometimes these things go for you and tonight it was never going to go for us.”