Marcus Rashford offside: Man Utd striker was given 'benefit of the doubt' vs Liverpool

Marcus Rashford was actually ‘offside’ when he scored Manchester United’s second goal during their 2-1 win over Liverpool.

Replays appeared to show Rashford marginally offside when Anthony Martial played him through on goal in the second half. The assistant referee’s flag stayed down as Rashford finished cooly past Alisson to double his side’s lead.

VAR images appeared to show Rashford had gone marginally too early as Joe Gomez defended against him.

But it was soon announced that Rashford was onside and that the goal would stand.

However, it seems the United goalscorer wasn’t actually onside.

That’s according to ESPN’s Dale Johnson.

He explains how, 12 months ago, UEFA proposed a new rule to give the “benefit of the doubt” back to the attacker when it came to offside. If the two VAR lines touch, the attacker should be given onside.

The aim was to remove the most marginal offside decisions.

Johnson explains: “It gives tolerance level, or margin of error, of 5cm back to the attacking player, meaning they can be just in front of the defender but the goal will stand due to the possible inaccuracies in the system.

“Usually the offside image shows both lines to attacker and defender, but when a player is onside due to the tolerance level the computer automatically only displays the line to the defender – which in the Premier League is green to make it clearer that a goal is good. The line isn’t displayed to both players (in any league) because they would sit on top of each other.

“Rashford was marginally offside, but onside due to this ‘benefit of the doubt.'”

Marcus Rashford was onside for Manchester United's second goal due to the tolerance level which was added to VAR offside last summer. Would have been offside in