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Man City news: Bernardo Silva 'misinterpreted the law' as ex-Fifa official analyses controversial image
Man City star Bernardo Silva “misinterpreted the law” during Portugal’s 6-1 round of 16 win over Switzerland at the World Cup last week (6 December), according to Keith Hackett.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Fifa and Premier League referee delivered his verdict after Bernardo’s celebration following Portugal’s opening goal.
When Goncalo Ramos scored the first goal of his historic hat trick, the 28-year-old stayed on the pitch in the opposition’s half while the rest of his teammates celebrated off the pitch.
It seemed like an attempt to stop Switzerland from kicking off quickly to try and level the scoring with little opposition.
Asked whether Bernardo‘s actions were necessary, Hackett said after analysing the image with Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley: “No.
“In fairness to him, he might have wanted to preserve his energy.
“But the referee is only going to restart the play when all the players are on the pitch. He’s not going to blow the whistle and allow the opposition to run down the other end and score.
“That might just happen on the odd occasion at the grassroots football level but not at the World Cup.
“He might have misinterpreted the law and thought that ‘If I stay here, the referee’s not going to restart the game’. It’s a misjudgement.”
The referee would have only allowed Switzerland to restart the game if all 11 of Portugal’s players were in their half.
Despite thrashing Switzerland, Portugal crashed out of the World Cup with a 1-0 defeat to Morocco in the quarter-finals on Saturday (10 December).
In other news, the Man City owners are working on a “dream” deal almost 10 years in the making.