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2nd May 2017
09:28pm BST

Obviously, it was the initial cross, not the actual assist, that caused the debate. Without a shadow of a doubt, Ronaldo was in an offside position, but should the referee have awarded a free out for offside?
Since he didn't touch the ball, or blocked the goalkeeper's vision of the ball, the only grey area is whether Ronaldo interfered with an opponent or not - specifically, the defender who was standing behind him
The official Fifa Rulebook states that interfering with an opponent:
"means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or movement, or by a gesture or movement which in the opinion of the referee deceives or distracts an opponent. The opponent must be reasonably close to the play so that the blocking, deceiving or distracting makes a difference."Was Ronaldo's little jump enough to deceive or distract the opponent behind him? Was that defender "reasonably close to the play? The fact that no Atletico player raised their hand in protest leads us to believe that he was onside, but we'll let you argue it out amongst yourselves.
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