When Lionel Messi scored in the 108th minute of the World Cup final between Argentina and France, he had put his nation 3-2 up in extra-time and seemingly on course for tournament triumph.
While Argentina ultimately had to wait a little while longer to taste success, following a tense penalty shootout after Kylian Mbappe scored his hat-trick goal later in the game, Messi eventually got his hands on the World Cup trophy at the age of 35.
However, post-game analysis has revealed that Messi's second goal, scored in the 108th minute, shouldn't have actually stood. According to the Laws of Football, referee Szymon Marciniak should have blown for a free-kick.
Though nothing untoward occurred in regards an offside or foul play by the Argentina players on the pitch, it was in fact the substitutes who broke the laws of the game.
As Hugo Lloris saved from Lautaro Martinez and the ball rebounded into Messi's path, Argentinian substitutes were already on the pitch, preparing to celebrate despite the ball not having crossed the line.
This, however, isn't allowed, and should have resulted in a free-kick awarded in France's favour.
Indeed, law three, paragraph nine of the Laws of Football, states: "If, after a goal is scored, the referee becomes aware before play resumes that an additional person was on the pitch at the time the goal was scored: the referee must disallow the goal if the extra person was: a player, substitute, substituted player, sent off player or official of the team who scored the goal; play must be restarted with a direct free kick from the place where the extra person was."
Had Szymon Marciniak and his VAR team caught the "extra person" on the pitch, the game would have stayed 2-2 heading into the final ten minutes of extra-time.
Although controversial, the Polish referee would have been well within his rights to disallow the goal, providing even more drama to an already extraordinary game of football.
Instead, he and the other officials missed the subs on the pitch before the ball had crossed the line, giving the advantage to Argentina. A VAR check was conducted, but that was to check whether Lautaro Martinez was offside or not.
The South American side then went on to win 4-2 on penalties, with Nahuel Molina placing the winning penalty past Hugo Lloris in the French goal.
