Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings has called the decision to allow Manchester City's opening goal against his side on Wednesday 'nonsense'.
After nearly 80 minutes of resilient defending and a number of impressive blocks to deny goal-bound shots from City, Villa were finally beaten when Rodri dispossessed Mings, and fed Bernardo Silva, who strode forward and curled a lovely shot past Emi Martinez.
However, Rodri had come from a clearly offside position to take possession from Mings, and Villa boss Dean Smith was sent off for his reaction to discovering that VAR had allowed the goal to stand.
Explaining the decision after, former referee Peter Walton told BT Sport that because Mings brought down the high ball before Rodri's touch, the City man was not deemed to be offside.
He said: "The law, and I’ll read it for you, says: ‘A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent, who deliberately plays the ball, is not considered to have gained an advantage’.
"Therefore, Mings playing the ball deliberately - you can see him try and chest the ball - plays the Manchester City player onside even though he’s in an offside position and therefore the goal should stand."
A clip of Walton's explanation, backed up by PGMOL, was posted to Twitter, where Mings had something to say about his thoughts on the rule - while admitting he should have done better to deal with the ball regardless of Rodri's involvement.
Mings said: "Never even heard of that rule, just let players stand offside, then run back & tackle you?
"In hindsight I should’ve cleared it, 100%, but didn’t even know that was the case. Nonsense."
Mings wasn't the only player to condemn the decision, with Villa defender Matt Targett tweeting: "Tough one to take tonight! Still can't get my head around that offside rule"
Jack Grealish added: "A bit confised with that offside rule if I'm honest but beaten by a brilliant team."
Defender Matty Cash, who blocked City on a number of occasions, posted: "Frustrating night, offside rule complete madness, head up and onto Saturday," while Ahmed Elmohamady said: "We defended really well and had some opportunities going forward. Can't get my head around this offside rule."
