Man City get new Bernardo Silva referee verdict after controversial John Stones winner vs Wolves

Former Premier League official Dermot Gallagher has insisted that Manchester City star Bernardo Silva's involvement prior to John Stones' header against Wolverhampton Wanderers is inconsequential to whether the goal should have stood or not.

Wolves fans were complaining heavily at full-time as Bernardo was accused of interfering with play from an offside position as Stones clattered home the winner for City. Initially, the assistant referee flagged for offside but VAR reviewed the call and adjudged that the Portuguese midfielder was not blocking the view of Jose Sa.

The complaint from the hosts was that while Bernardo may not have been blocking Sa's line of vision, he had disrupted the goalkeeper enough beforehand to warrant the goal being disallowed. However, on Ref Watch, Gallagher explained why this was a 'red herring'.

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"If you look, Silva is in an offside position, but he can’t be offside from a corner, so that’s a red herring," he explained. "You can only be offside when Stones touches it, when Stones touches it, he’s already peeling away, so he’s not in the line of vision, he doesn’t block the ‘keeper’s vision, and the graphic that you’ve showed me earlier, he doesn’t impact on the ability to play that ball because he moves away from him.

"A key issue [has been missed], that when all of that [pushing between Sa and Bernardo] is taking place, he’s not in an offside positon, because it’s a corner, so he can’t be given offside. So he can bounce up and down, he can do whatever he wants, he cannot be in an offside position until Stones touches that ball and when Stones touches that ball, he’s already peeled away."

The late victory could be crucial come the end of the season considering Arsenal lost this weekend and Liverpool produced an excellent performance to beat Chelsea 2-1. City sit a point behind leaders Liverpool heading into next weekend's clash with Southampton.

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Manchester City wrapped up the 2023/24 season with a fourth successive Premier League title, but they missed out on another Treble with defeat in the FA Cup final and Champions League quarter-finals. It's now time for Pep Guardiola and co to turn their attention to the transfer window.

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