Spain vs France: Why was Kylian Mbappe's 'offside' winner in Nations League final allowed?

In a very closely contested match, France managed to defeat Spain 2-1 in the UEFA Nations League final on Sunday at the San Siro, in Milan. The game saw a slow start with the first hour being played out rather conservatively by both teams not taking many risks. But its dynamics changed in two minutes soon after. The game was not without controversy though as many felt the 80th-minute winner from Kylian Mbappe should have been offside. France's wing-back Theo Hernandez played a through ball to Mbappe, who seemed to have mistimed his run as he was standing in an offside position when the ball was played, and Spanish defender Eric Garcia tried to intercept the ball but only got a slight touch to it before Mbappe latched on to the ball as he went on and brilliantly finished. The assistant referee did not raise his flag. When the VAR was checking for a possible offside, the replays showed that Mbappe was offside when the pass was played, however, the goal still stood. Busquets not satisfied with ref's explanation Social media was flooded with questions regarding the controversial call. Spanish skipper Sergio Busquets said that the explanation he got from the referee did not make sense. Speaking to El Chiringuito TV, Busquets said: "To us on the field it (the second goal) looked offside. The referee told us that since Eric tried to play the ball, the offside was cancelled, but that doesn’t make sense. He just tried to intercept the ball, he didn’t play it and lose control of it." According to Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp, it was not the VAR's fault as the rule has been around for 18 months. He said that Garcia's touch was the slightest and that if the assistant referee had raised his flag no one would have "asked any questions". Spain vs France highlights The first hour of the game was more tactically slow, with both the teams not trying to make any mistakes and risk anything. It felt as though both the teams were trying to wait for the other to make a mistake and then pounce on that. And that is exactly what happened in the 64th minute when Mikel Oyarzabal was on the end of a Busquets over the top through ball. Oyarzabal did superbly well to hold off Dayot Upamecano as he took the ball to the left of the goal and finished with power and precision into the bottom right side of the goal. But France was not going to lay back as two minutes later, from the kick-off, France looked to attack down the left-hand side. Mbappe played a pass to Karim Benzema who was on the left corner of the penalty area. The Real Madrid striker took one touch to the right and unleashed a fantastic curling shot into the top corner of the net to level the proceedings on the night. In the 80th minute, Mbappe scored the winner and France were crowned UEFA Nations Cup winners for the first time. (Image: AP/Sony Sports Network)

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Spain vs France: Why was Kylian Mbappe's 'offside' winner in Nations League final allowed?

Kylian Mbappe scored the winner for France in the UEFA Nations League final on Sunday, but his goal sparked controversy as he looked to be offside

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