The Scottish FA has released new footage alongside a clarification of the Laws of the Game to explain why Celtic’s winning goal against Aberdeen was allowed to stand despite initial confusion over Benjamin Nygren’s positioning.
Nygren scored the decisive goal in Celtic’s 2-1 victory at Pittodrie, but the moment quickly sparked debate after television angles appeared to show the Swedish attacker in an offside position during the build-up.
However, the footage released by officials – combined with the official interpretation of football’s offside rule – demonstrates why the goal was correctly awarded.
The key factor lies in one specific part of the offside law.
According to Law 11 of the IFAB Laws of the Game, the moment used to judge whether a player is offside is the exact instant the ball is played or touched by a teammate.
In other words, referees and VAR officials do not judge offside based on where a player stands seconds before or after the pass. The decisive frame is the moment the ball leaves the foot of the player making the pass.
The law itself states that a player in an offside position is only penalised “at the moment the ball is played or touched by a team-mate” if they then become involved in active play.
This is where the confusion around Nygren’s goal began.
Initial broadcast images showed Nygren appearing beyond the last Aberdeen defender earlier in the attacking move. But the newly released angle highlights the crucial moment when the ball was actually played across goal.
At that exact moment, Nygren had timed his run correctly and was positioned level with – or just behind – the last defender.
Because the offside law only considers the player’s position at the instant the pass is made, the earlier frame where Nygren looked offside is irrelevant to the decision.
Importantly, the rules also emphasise another commonly misunderstood point: simply being in an offside position is not an offence by itself.
A player is only penalised if they are offside when the ball is played and then interfere with play or gain an advantage from that position.
VAR officials therefore analysed the frame where the pass was delivered and used calibrated lines to determine Nygren’s position relative to the last Aberdeen defender.
After reviewing the footage, the goal was confirmed.
The newly released angle from the Scottish FA provides a clearer view of that decisive moment and supports the original VAR call that Nygren was onside when the ball was played.
Despite complaints from some pundits and opposition figures after the match, the explanation of the law and the additional footage now make the reasoning behind the decision far clearer.
Nygren’s goal ultimately secured three valuable points for Celtic in the north-east, lifting them above Rangers in the Scottish Premiership table and keeping their momentum alive in the title race.
For officials, the incident serves as another reminder of how easily offside decisions can be misunderstood when viewers focus on the wrong frame.
As the Laws of the Game make clear, the judgement comes down to a single moment — the instant the ball leaves the passer’s foot.