Match of the Day host Gary Lineker was forced to explain the offside rule to broadcaster Piers Morgan during Arsenal's 2-1 home defeat to Brighton on Saturday afternoon.
With the score 1-0 to the visitors, Arsenal thought they'd equalised when Gabriel Martinelli found the back of the net on the stroke of half-time. Yet the goal was disallowed for offside following a lengthy VAR review due to Martinelli being ahead of the last defender.
Morgan was furious with the decision. "That is f****** ridiculous," he tweeted. "Martinelli was clearly onside. Outrageous decision - another reason to hate VAR." On seeing the tweet, Lineker simply replied: "He was offside."
The former Good Morning Britain host then responded to Lineker with a screengrab of the incident, which showed Martinelli was offside. Linker replied: "I trust you know the offside law? Two bodies required to play you onside."
Despite being proved wrong by his own screengrab, Morgan continued to argue. "There's no way you think that was offside," he tweeted. "Stop VAR virtue-signalling." To which Lineker replied: "It is offside. Unquestionably."
Morgan then wrote: "If it was so obvious, why did it take five minutes to work it out? Crazy decision and you would have been outraged if you were Martinelli."
Do you think the Gabriel Martinelli was offside? Let us know in the comments below!
To quote law 11 of the International Football Association Board (IFAB)'s official rulebook, "a player is in an offside position if... any part of the head, body or feet is nearer to the opponent's goal than both the ball and the second-last opponent."
It's fair to say Morgan, a vocal critic of Mikel Arteta, did not enjoy Arsenal's performance against Brighton. The result leaves the Gunners fifth in the Premier League - level on points with Tottenham in fourth - having lost back-to-back games.
"FFS," tweeted Morgan during the game. "Trust the process? I wouldn't trust Arteta to boil me an egg at the moment."
The journalist slammed Arteta for allowing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to join Barcelona in February. The Gabon international was stripped of the captaincy and dropped in December after breaching displinary rules. He never played for Arsenal again.
Having scored just four league goals this season before his Emirates exit, Aubameyang has impressed since moving to Spain - finding the back of the net seven times in eight La Liga outings. Barcelona have jumped up to second in the table as a result of his form.
"[A] reminder that Arteta gave Aubameyang for free to Barcelona where he is banging in goals for fun - and kept [Alexandre] Lacazette, who hasn't scored in open play since December," tweeted Morgan. "Looks a worse and worse decision with every game that passes. Yet still Arsenal fans support it."
Morgan finished off his running commentary by sharing a picture of Arteta's face, with the caption: "Pathetic." Arsenal have eight Premier League games remaining - including a trip to local rivals Tottenham on May 12.
