This is why Celtic fans hate the international break.
As Brendan Rodgers pushes for the Treble on the domestic scene, he now has to deal with a possible injury to goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel when the players return from action.
On Sunday, Celtic’s number one was involved in a dramatic and action-packed UEFA Nations League encounter, as Portugal beat Denmark in extra-time to book their semi-final ticket.
With Denmark winning the first leg 1-0, Roberto Martinez’s side needed to win the return leg on home soil in Lisbon and the man signed by Celtic in the summer was in the thick of the action straight away.
After just five minutes, Schmeichel was saving Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty, but those heroics were only short-lived because the legendary forward would eventually get his goal in the second half and it would take extra time for Portugal to win.
Disappointment for Schmeichel, who now has the Celtic Park faithful worried because he picked up what looked like a serious-looking and painful injury.
Marvin Bartley slams the linesman for making Kasper Schmeichel’s injury worse
It’s the old, or even new, offside rule that, well, is no longer offside, until a whole passage of play happens, everyone has dinner, and then the linesman puts his flag up.
Marvin Bartley took to social media to explain what happened with Schmeichel and how the assistant referee ‘doesn’t put his flag up for a blatant offside’.
The play goes on, and that then forces the Denmark star, who has done his shoulder, to dive and save it, but now, he is ‘screaming every time he has to dive’.
Bartley labelled the whole situation a ‘shambles’ and questioned why the linesman took so long to raise his flag for offside, rather than waiting for Schmeichel to dive because the offside was so ‘blatant’.
“Kasper Schmeichel does his shoulder, as the assistant ref doesn’t put his flag up for a blatant offside and he ends up trying to save it,” shared Bartley. “Now screaming every time he has to dive!
“Mate, I get the rule if it’s close. That wasn’t! Especially as he had the halfway line as a blatant guide! Shambles – the offside was so blatant too! Like he had the halfway line to use as the perfect guide.
“He was honestly screaming as he just tipped one over. They ran out of subs, so had to stay on.”
Why is the offside delayed in football?
With VAR now in play in most matches, you see a situation quite a lot where, to everybody watching, it’s offside, but the linesman doesn’t flag.
And after that phase of play has ended, you then see a delayed flag goes up, which frustrates the majority of the people – from fans, coaches to players.
The English Premier League’s website explains why this is – and it is a modern rule that just won’t ever sit well with supporters.
‘Delay – Clear opportunity to score or very obvious attacking phase and tight judgement for onside/offside’.
‘No Delay – Play going out to the wing. Possible attack – not a clear or immediate one, AR (Assistant ref) is certain that the attacker is clearly in an offside position, and there is no risk of error’.
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