That Nani Goal

Heurelho Gomes

Good afternoon all.

So, yesterday Manchester United beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 at Old Trafford following a goal by Vidic, and a controversial goal by Nani.

Should Mark Clattenburg have awarded the goal?

Now, was that Nani goal a goal or not? I can’t find a suitable video of it, but here’s basically what happened. Nani was running into the spurs penalty area and dived. Neither the referee, Mark Clattenburg, nor the linesman did anything. Nani then handles the ball, but Gomes has the ball in his hands quickly, so Clattenburg plays advantage. Gomes then puts the ball on the ground as if to play a free-kick, and Nani gets up and scores.

The blame-game has already begun. From his completely neutral perspective, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has said that Calttenburg is to blame for not making things clear. But he then also says that it’s no excuse for his teams defeat.

Nani scored for Manchester United under controversial circumstances.

To counter this, Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Gomes is to blame for not playing to the whistle.

Others claim this type of thing only ever happens to the home teams advantage, and only ever happens at Old Trafford.

So, where does the blame really lie? It can be seen that Nani should be responsible for claiming the goal, because he did handball it before going on to score, so theoretically he cheated. Is football really coming to this, where top players like Nani are being unpunished for diving, and then rewarded with a goal for unsportsmanlike conduct?

Having said that, surely all players should learn as children that if the referee hasn’t blown his whistle, it’s not a foul, not a free-kick and thus the ball is still in open-play. So Gomes should have carried on play as the whistle had not been blown.

Having said all of that, I would most likely feel slightly different about the situation if it happened again Bolton Wanderers.

What are your thoughts on this?