Ranking the 10 weirdest disallowed goals ever after Liverpool vs. Man City madness | OneFootball

Football is a simple game and goals should be the ultimate example of that. Ball over the line, arms in the air, chaos in the stands. But that’s not always the case, and increasingly so in the age of VAR.

From inexplicable interpretations of the laws to moments of pure officiating theatre, these are the goals that broke the rules in ways nobody knew were possible. Or should’ve stood but didn’t.

Here’s our ranking of the 10 weirdest disallowed goals ever.

Note: For any particularly pedantic readers out there, we do realise that a fair few of these goals weren’t technically ‘disallowed’, but we’re counting ‘not given in the first place’ spiritually on the same grounds.

10. Peter Schmeichel vs Wimbledon

This one was straightforward enough from an officiating perspective. The linesman flagged instantly.

And it was the correct decision; Peter Schmeichel had strayed beyond the last man following Gary Pallister’s flick-on.

Really, this was particularly noteworthy for the sight of a hulking 6’4″ goalkeeper pulling off a sensationally acrobatic overhead bicycle kick.

“It would have been the greatest goalkeeping goal ever!” the Dane reminisced over his would-be last-minute equaliser.

No arguments here.

9. Nani vs Spain

We’re including this one because it might well be the funniest thing we’ve ever seen on a football pitch.

Back in November 2010, Portugal demolished recently-crowned world champions Spain 4-0 in a friendly. But most memorable of all was a goal that didn’t stand.

Cristiano Ronaldo pulled off a superb individual effort, darting into the box, chopping inside and demonstrating outrageous footwork before executing the perfect lob over Iker Casillas from close range.

The ball was just sailing in when an offside Nani appeared out of nowhere to help it on its way.

Ronaldo’s histrionic reaction made it even better. He was absolutely fuming – as, to be fair, he probably had a right to be.

“After having time to think about it, I apologised to Ronaldo. It was a great piece of play and I shouldn’t have ruined it,” Nani said afterwards.

8. Ebeltoft vs Noerager

This one’s so obscure that we don’t even know the name of the player.

No footage exists, as far as we’re aware, and we’ve never even heard of the two tiny Danish clubs.

But dusting off the history books and reading accounts of this incident, it’s too bizarre not to feature here.

The story goes that Ebeltoft were chasing an equaliser in the final seconds of a 4-3 thriller against Noerager. Referee Henning Erikstrup attempted to bring the match to an end as they attacked one last time.

There was just one problem. As Erikstrup went to blow his whistle, his false teeth fell out. The whistle made no sound, play continued, and Ebeltoft duly scored to level the match at 4–4.

By the time the referee had recovered his dentures and put them back in place, it was too late. Erikstrup ruled the goal out.

7. Luis Diaz vs Tottenham

The VAR blunder to end all VAR blunders. The Premier League’s Zapruder moment.

Replays showed Luis Diaz was onside when scoring against Tottenham after originally being flagged. Simple enough, easily rectified, that’s what VAR is there for.

…Except the decision was so poorly communicated between Darren England at Stockley Park and Simon Hooper on the pitch that we arrived at the opposite outcome as intended and play restarted.

“Can’t do anything,” repeated a flustered England in the released audio.

Oops.

6. Oliver Norwood vs Aston Villa

It’s been over a decade since goal-line technology was first introduced, back at the 2014 World Cup.

A rare nice, uncomplicated and uncontroversial technological development.

…Except for literally just one time, when Aston Villa goalkeeper Orjan Nyland fumbled a catch and practically walked the ball back over his own goal-line. The mass of bodies and the proximity to the post were the reasons for the tech malfunctioning.

“I think the goalkeeper was in the Holte End when he caught it,” reacted Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder, while goal-line technology operator Hawk-Eye issued an official apology.

Quite the twist of fate for Villa, who held on for a 0-0 draw and stayed up by just a point that season.

5. Clive Allen vs Crystal Palace

The moment everyone learned the word “stanchion”.

The OG ghost goal, with grainy footage we almost have sympathy for the referee thinking it cannoned off the woodwork. It certainly appears that way on first viewing.

Except the referee was actually standing right there, and the world didn’t actually look that fuzzy in 1980.

4. Pedro Mendes vs Manchester United

On the one hand, this one isn’t that weird.

Before the days of goal-line technology, it was a relatively regular occurrence for the match officials to miss the ball crossing the line. See Frank Lampard against Germany at the 2010 World Cup.

But never have you seen a goal so clearly in not given. Roy Carroll’s bungled attempt at a catch takes all the speed off the ball and you can practically see yards of green turf as it bounces past the white line.

Twenty years later, we still can’t quite believe Carroll got away with this. And that one of the most spectacularly speculative efforts counted for nothing.

3. Mark Hughes vs Leeds United

Kids these days, eh? Members of Gen Alpha wouldn’t recognise the dial-up tone of pre-broadband internet or playing tunes through an iPod dock. Richard Keys is just that weird fella out in Doha. And they know nothing of the ridiculously shallow goal nets at old Dell.

Said goal nets once resulted in Mark Hughes once scoring a goal against Leeds that nobody noticed, such was the speed of the ball ricocheting back off the advertising hoardings.

Yes, really.

2. Don Hutchison vs Liverpool

A nice quaint one from the pre-VAR era.

As with Carroll, we were denied one of the all-time goalkeeping howlers thanks to incompetent refereeing.

In the last second of a Merseyside derby, Liverpool ‘keeper Sander Westerveld booted the ball into the back of Everton midfielder Don Hutchison, but before the ball trickled over the goal-line, referee Graham Poll blew the full-time whistle.

Amazingly enough, this probably wasn’t the worst mistake of Graham Poll’s career, given he infamously dished out three yellow cards to the same player at the 2006 World Cup. He later admitted he made a mistake.

“I jogged back to the centre circle, checked my watch, which showed that time had elapsed and blew my whistle as I thought Westerveld had booted the ball upfield,” he reminisced in a 2010 Daily Mail column.

“Unfortunately, he had kicked it into Don Hutchinson and the ball was on its way into the Liverpool goal. I stood firm and the ‘goal’ did not count.

“I was wrong back in April 2000 and have to apologise to any Everton fans that I meet even now – they never forget! I never repeated the act of blowing at an inappropriate time.”

1. Rayan Cherki vs Liverpool

Call us reactive, but we’re putting this straight in at No.1. Never have we seen an incident like it.

Rayan Cherki’s hilariously meek effort from distance eventually trundled over the goal-line only after Erling Haaland and Dominik Szoboszlai jostled one another to intervene, one way or another.

What would’ve been one of the most unique goals in Premier League history instead became one of the most memorable disallowed goals.

Like a particularly niche ‘You Are The Ref’ scenario played out in real time, Szoboszlai was sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity… after said goal was scored. Is there a name for that paradox?

Technically speaking, this was the correct outcome. But in our heart of hearts, is that what we really want? A prime example of VAR being the fun police. Get it binned.