Wolves v Man City: Winning goal a ‘grey area’ – but what does law say?
Replays of the incident also showed Silva backing in and nudging his Portugal international team-mate Sa as the corner came in.
The goal was initially ruled out for offside, but a player cannot be offside from a corner.
By the time Stones connected with the ball, Silva had moved away from Sa and deemed not to be impacting the keeper’s vision or ability to get to the ball.
It could, however, be argued Silva should have been penalised for a foul on the goalkeeper.
Wolves boss Gary O’Neil did not refer to that specific incident when discussing the decision, instead claiming the original call for offside against Silva should have stood.
“I am trying to remain calm,” he said on Sky Sports. “I have been involved in a few of those and not had many go in our favour so was expecting that outcome.
“There is some grey area that can go either way and once it was like that I wasn’t confident it would go our way.”
Former Manchester City and Aston Villa defender Micah Richards added on Sky Sports: “I would like to see a goal be given for this because I don’t think there’s too much contact.
“But the fact of the matter is that he [Silva] is still in the keeper’s way so it has affected the play in my opinion. You want consistency as sometimes you see these given and sometimes not.
“There’s a slight nudge that puts the keeper off balance so he’s not set, so I can understand why Wolves will feel aggrieved at this particular moment.”
Former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge also said on Sky Sports: “Bernardo has played it perfectly because he’s timed it. As the header has gone into the back of the net, he’s off the keeper. It’s like, ‘I’ve done my job but I’ve not impacted it’.
“For me, I do believe he has affected the keeper slightly. It’s the timing of the header.”
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