"People Who Make The Rules Don’t Understand The Game": Petr Cech Slam Decision To Award Bruno Fernandes' Goal

Petr Cech brutally accused match officials in the Manchester derby of “not understanding the game” after the equalizer on Saturday, January 14. 

The Manchester derby sparked to life in the second half after a goalless opening period, with Jack Grealish opening the scoring from a Kevin de Bruyne cross. 

United however equalized with less than 15 minutes to go, albeit in controversial circumstances. 

Bruno Fernandes equalized for the home side, but the goal was initially chalked off for offside on Marcus Rashford. 

Almost immediately, Fernandes ran to the linesman to argue his case, that Rashford did not touch the ball since he was in an offside position. The goal eventually stood, and social media was on fire soon afterwards.

 Among the people who were in disagreement of the goal was Petr Cech, who has had his fair share of clashes with Manchester United as a player. 

The first United goal just proved the people who make the rules don’t understand the game.

— Petr Cech (@PetrCech) January 14, 2023

“The first United goal just proved the people who make the rules don’t understand the game,” Cech wrote on Twitter in a tweet that has well over 13000 retweets. 

What do the FIFA laws state?

 Well, according to FIFA rules, a player is interfering with play if he touches the ball from a teammate’s pass. 

However, a player can also be adjudged to have influenced play if he interfered with the opponent. For instance, if a player impedes the opponent from getting to the ball. 

Here is an excerpt from the IFAB lawbook which also puts things to perspective:

 A player moving from, or standing in, an offside position is in the way of an opponent and interferes with the movement of the opponent towards the ball this is an offside offence if it impacts on the ability of the opponent to play or challenge for the ball; if the player moves into the way of an opponent and impedes the opponent's progress (e.g blocks the opponent) the offence should be penalised under Law 12.

 Pep Guardiola says he doesn’t care about Premier League 

Pep Guardiola appeared to concede the Premier League after the derby defeat. 

This was Manchester City’s second successive defeat this week, as thIey were surprisingly dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Southampton days earlier. 

The result against United leaves them in real danger of slipping further from runaway leaders Arsenal, who currently enjoy a five-point gap at the top with a game in hand.

 'I don't care about the Premier League and the Carabao Cup, we cannot win,' the Spaniard quickly told BT Sport. 

Source: SportsBrief