‘Thought it was offside’ – The little-known reason why Florian Wirtz’s goal at Fulham was given – despite Liverpool star’s confession

Liverpool star Florian Wirtz was the most surprised player at Fulham after his goal was given having admitted he thought he was offside.

And had it not been for a little-known rule, his second goal for the Reds would have been chalked off in Sunday’s 2-2 draw .

Wirtz hauled the Merseyside outfit level at Craven Cottage in the 57th minute to make it 1-1 – curling home a left-footed strike from inside the box.

Slipped in by Conor Bradley, the linesman immediately raised his flag as soon as the ball nestled into the bottom left corner.

And to the shock of most fans watching on their TV screens, VAR adjudged Wirtz to be onside following a lengthy review, despite replays suggesting he was the closest player to goal closer.

The former Bayer Leverkusen star – signed for £116.5million last summer – appeared to be on a different cut of grass than Fulham’s last man in Issa Diop.

Speaking post-match, Wirtz himself revealed he didn’t celebrate his goal because he was convinced that he was offside.

He told Sky Sports: “I was sure it was offside so I didn’t even celebrate. I was happy that I scored, but I’d rather take the three points.”

Club legend Jamie Carragher meanwhile stated: “I know sometimes the angles can fool you.

“But the fact we’ve got the penalty spot to look at, I just can’t believe that’s been given.”

What on Wirtz?

However, the controversial strike was given due to a little-known tolerance level which was introduced when semi-automated offside technology came into play in the Premier League in April 2025.

While the manual VAR lines to judge offside calls have been scrapped, the new technology still takes in a small margin of error that gives the attacker the benefit of the doubt.

Getty

Getty

Unlike in other leagues across Europe such as in Spain, Italy and Germany, as well as the Champions League, the Premier League has different leniency measures when it comes to offside.

Those competitions measure offside positions to the millimetre, while England’s top-flight operates with a 5cm tolerance level.

That is effectively the width of the green line used to determine whether attackers are offside or not.

And in Wirtz’s fortuitous case, his right foot was just inside the green line.

His equaliser just before the hour sparked Liverpool’s comeback, with the visitors thinking they had snatched all three points in added time following Cody Gakpo‘s late strike.

However, Harrison Reed found the top corner in the seventh minute of stoppage time with a 30-yard stunner into the top right corner to deny Liverpool the win.

AFP

While the result has extended Liverpool’s unbeaten run in the Premier League to seven matches, they failed to gain points on the top three.

Arne Slot‘s men remain in fourth spot – now 14 points behind leaders Arsenal – and just three clear of Chelsea in fifth.

And their faint chances of retaining the title will surely be over if they fall to a first league defeat since November away at the Gunners on Thursday night.