Ruud van Nistelrooy's opening goal in the Netherlands' 3-0 win over Italy at the European Championship was correctly awarded by the referee, UEFA said Tuesday.
UEFA general secretary David Taylor told a news conference the officials correctly interpreted the laws of the game when Van Nistelrooy scored, stating Christian Panucci played him onside although the Italian was off the pitch at the time.
"The goal was correctly awarded... not many people, even in the game, and I include the players, know this interpretation (of Law 11)," Taylor said.
"This is a widely known interpretation of the offside law among referees, but it's not generally known among the wider football public."
Taylor said the law has to be applied this way otherwise teams could intentionally leave the field to catch opposing attackers offside.
"If you didn't have this interpretation then what could happen is the defending team could use the tactic of stepping off the pitch deliberately to play players offside, and that clearly is unacceptable," he said. "The simplest, the most effective, the most practical interpretation of the law is the one that is adopted by referees."
Source:Xinhua
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