There’s a common misconception from some who follow the Premier League that officiating elsewhere, including on the international stage, is much better and that England’s top flight somehow stands out alone as being repeatedly controversial.
That is of course nonsense, there’s often Spanish front pages screaming about officiating, and similar in Italy and elsewhere.
This week has seen a Newcastle United player on the wrong end of an officiating decision. The man involved is Alexander Isak, and as explained by Aftonbladet, he had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside against Azerbaijan on Tuesday evening.
Isak is said to have remonstrated with officials after the match, but he later said they stood their ground and didn’t want to suggest they may have been mistaken.
Aftonbladet have since contacted UEFA, who they quote as saying: ‘The offside decision was a mistake by the video assistant referee.’
Sweden won the match 6-0, so the goal would hardly have been of great consequence. However, four of the goals were scored by Viktor Gyökeres and it’s perhaps understandable if the Newcastle United forward also wanted to be on the scoresheet.
