Cristiano Ronaldo’s disallowed goal against Udinese sparked debate on the use of VAR once again. The forward was adjudged to have been offside by centimetres, and his sister took to social media to complain about the same.
The Portuguese thought he had scored and thus won Juventus the game against Udinese in their Serie A opener, deep into stoppage time. The forward – who did not start the match – rose highest to direct a cross past Marco Silvestri in the goal. However, Ronaldo’s celebrations and those of several thousand away fans were stopped short when the referee cancelled the goal because of offside.
Among those disappointed by the call was Ronaldo’s sister Elma dos Santos Aveiro, who later questioned the decision through social media. She wrote the following in the public sphere, alongside a picture of the offside call with the lines drawn on:
“Had you had my shoulder, you would have been onside. You need to replace the large size with medium.”
“The robbery begins.”
Despite the delayed protestations of Elma and the more immediate ones of the Juventus bench and personnel, the goal wasn’t allowed to stand after several minutes of examination. The Bianconeri, as a result, were held to a 2-2 draw by Udinese.
Juventus did lead the game 2-0, however. As Ronaldo watched on from the sidelines, Paulo Dybala scored the opening goal inside three minutes at Stadio Friuli.
The returning Massimiliano Allegri was among those who revelled on the touchline as Dybala reeled away in celebration with his teammates.
A short while later, Allegri rejoiced again as Juan Cuadrado put his team two goals up with a smartly-taken finish.
Juve took the lead with them into the break, but a Wojciech Szczesny mistake allowed Udinese back into the game. The Pole then made another howler, passing the ball straight to Gerard Deulofeu for him to score the equalizing goal in the 83rd minute.
Despite Ronaldo’s late disallowed goal, Juve could not recover their lead and dropped two points on the first matchday of the season.
