Jack Grealish hurt as ‘unacceptable’ Man City v Real Madrid issue blasted
Alan Shearer was furious during the first half of Man City’s huge clash with Real Madrid as a controversial delay led to an injury to Jack Grealish.
Pep Guardiola‘s side hosted the Spanish giants at the Etihad on Tuesday (11 February), and despite being forced to survive some early scares, did take the lead in the match.
An excellent ball into the area from Grealish was chested down by Josko Gvardiol into the path of Erling Haaland, who clincially finished for his first ever goal against Madrid.
However, Man City were made to wait for official confirmation that their goal would stand for nearly four minutes, something that did not please Shearer, and made him even more upset when the England star went off hurt moments later.
Man City goal delay blamed for Jack Grealish setback
With Gvardiol and Haaland both ahead of the last outfield Madrid player when the final pass of the move was played, there was a long wait to see if the goal would be given.
Eventually it was, with the Man City striker judged to have been just behind the ball when it came off Gvardiol’s chest, ensuring he was onside and that the goal would stand.
Although the use of semi-automated offside often means such issues are resolved quickly in UEFA competitions such as the Champions League in contrast to the Premier League, that was not the case here, leaving Mark Clattenburg surprised and Shearer frustrated.
Speaking on Amazon Prime Sport‘s coverage of the game, former referee Clattenburg said: “See normally, using the technology, they take it off the players and it’s the last part of the body that can score a goal, where this time they have to use the ball, and the line on the ball, which is why it’s taking so long because it’s not a simplified easy process.
“When it’s got players it’s easy. The chip in the ball, they mark the players. But on this one they’ve got to use the ball as the reference point because that’s what is the issue, is he behind the ball?”
After commentator Jon Champion noted it had been over three minutes since the goal had been score without a decision being reached, Clattenburg added: “This is unusual in UEFA competition. We see it week in, week out in the Premier League because they haven’t got the semi-automated offsides, but in UEFA competitions it’s normally a lot quicker than this.”
An increasingly frustrated Shearer then exclaimed: “It’s not acceptable either, by the way. You’ve got finely-tuned athletes who are hanging around, standing still, for three and a half, four minutes now. No wonders there’s so many injuries in the game.”
The former Newcastle striker’s concerns were confirmed just ten minutes after the goal when Grealish was forced off through injury to be replaced by Phil Foden.
That prompted Shearer to add: “I mentioned it, it certainly doesn’t help when you’ve got elite athletes that are standing around for almost four minutes.
“It cannot help you or your body. It’s not acceptable that players are having to wait around for that long.”
Jack Grealish injury comes at terrible time for England international
Football Insider Verdict
Speaking ahead of the game, Shearer has suggested that Grealish would have been angered by his lack of game time at Man City in recent months.
This match would therefore have been an excellent opportunity to force his way back into the thinking of Guardiola for other big games.
Having made such a high-quality and important contribution to the opening goal, Grealish may have felt he was well on his way to doing that.
But after being forced of with injury not long after, the England international may fear he will not be able to feature for Man City for some time regardless of his form.
The length of time it took for a decision to be made is unlikely to have helped here, given that having got into the rythym of the game, the wait may have taken that out of the players again.
Getting back up to that speed so quickly will have put strain on the bodies, and may have contributed to this injury to Grealish, something all concerned will want to avoid again in the future.