Why wasn’t Mikel Oyarzabal’s late Spain goal against England ruled out for offside?

The Three Lions were punished after John Stones played Oyarzabal onside in Berlin

England suffered heartbreak in the Euro 2024 final after a tight offside call on Mikel Oyarzabal’s late goal for Spain in a 2-1 win in Berlin was confirmed by Uefa’s technology.

The Three Lions had dragged themselves back into the game with Cole Palmer’s fine strike in response to Nico Williams’ opener.

But Luis De la Fuente’s side regained the lead in the 86th minute through the Real Sociedad forward.

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Initial replays to the naked eye suggested Oyarzabal might have been offside, but the Uefa’s VAR graphic showed John Stones’ knee narrowly ahead of the end of Oyarzabal’s toe to ensure the Spaniard was indeed onside.

As Marc Guehi chased back towards his own goal, Oyarzabal found space in front to meet Marc Cucurella’s cross.

Despite Uefa’s VAR image shown on television, fans took to social media to question the call.

Uefa’s high-tech cameras proved the officials made the right decision despite a delay thanks to the use of “connected ball technology”. A motion sensor inserted inside the match ball gave the officials live feedback on major decisions throughout the tournament in Germany.

Uefa also uses 10 specialised cameras inside the stadium to monitor 29 different body points per player.

“The run, you’re praying for it to be offside, he’s just hoping for a good ball in,” Ian Wright said on ITV Sport.

“That is what we’ve lacked in this tournament.”

“A brilliant cross when you’re running back towards your own goal, one touch, brilliant,” added Roy Keane.

Mikel Oyarzabal was played on by John Stones (AP)