Fulham players and boss Marco Silva are left seething as Nathan Ake’s goal is allowed to stand despite Manuel Akanji standing in an offside position and appearing to interfere with play

Erling Haaland scored a remarkable seventh hat-trick of his extraordinary career at Manchester City, but even his performance was overshadowed by a hugely controversial decision that left the game at 1-1 when a goal from Nathan Ake was allowed to stand despite Manuel Akanji stood well. offside in the line of Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno.

Referee Michael Oliver consulted with his assistant and decided that Akanji was not looking for an advantage, despite feinting to take the ball and raise one leg, which seemed to affect Leno. And VAR Tony Harrington decided no mistake had been made, so it wasn’t worth having Oliver back on the field to watch.

However, ahead of the restart, the goal was shown on the big screens at the Etihad, sparking pandemonium among the Fulham players and a long delay as the rather obvious offside seemed obvious to all. They begged the referee to watch the on-pitch replay, but he can’t do it on his own without advice from VAR.

But Fulham manager Marco Silva was baffled by the decision, saying: “What I can say is that anyone who plays football, who has played football and has some football knowledge, is 100 per cent sure that you will not allow that goal. Of course everyone would be furious if you come across a goal like that.

“It can be difficult for the linesman. Is he in an offside position, can he see or not? But for the VAR it is impossible not to disallow that goal. It is clear that he (Akanji) is in line with the ball. He pulled away from the ball line towards the goal, completely influencing the goalkeeper and the goalkeeper’s reaction. It is clearly offside and this will concern everyone in football. How was that goal allowed by the VAR?

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“The more often you see those moments, the more sure you have to be that it’s not allowed. The players saw it (on the big screen), the City players saw it too, everyone on the pitch had the same opinion. But the referee didn’t say anything because I didn’t speak to him.’

After a superb first half, Fulham conceded that goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time of the first period and then capitulated in the second half. “I tried at half-time to tell the players not to lose focus on things that are beyond our control, but of course it had a huge impact,” said Silva. “Even all the explanations we had were completely wrong.”