Barcelona winger Raphinha found himself under fire despite scoring in their commanding 4-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League quarter-final clash at the Nou Camp.
The La Liga giants took a massive step toward the semi-finals with a dominant display on Wednesday night, controlling the tempo and piling pressure on the German visitors from the opening whistle.
Raphinha opened the scoring in the 25th minute, nudging the ball over the line after Pau Cubarsí had seemingly done enough to beat the Dortmund goalkeeper. The moment, however, wasn’t without controversy.
The Brazilian’s late touch sparked a brief VAR review to determine if he had strayed offside. Replays confirmed he was just onside, but the real talking point came from his choice to intervene at all, drawing criticism from pundit and former Real Madrid player Steve McManaman.
Commentating on TNT Sports, McManaman said: ‘Imagine trying to nick that from your mate! Imagine sticking your leg out there. There’s no need for it, that’s the greed of the centre-forward, the goalscorer, he wanted another goal.’
‘He’s got away with it, he’s just onside. I’ve got no idea why he’s trying to poke that in from there,’ he continued. ‘He can see the whole goal, he can see the ball going into the net. There’s absolutely no need for it.’
‘If he stole that you’d go mad even if he’s not offside. He nearly scuppered it up. It’s a lovely goal until Raphinha gets involved and steals it on the line.’
Despite the criticism, the goal stood, adding to Raphinha’s impressive tally of 17 goal contributions in this season’s Champions League campaign.
