Steven Nsimba (29 years old) scored the winning goal for the University of Craiova on Sunday, at home, with Dinamo, score 2-1, in the 7th stage of the play-off, but his success came after an unmarked offside from the edge. At the end of the match, the Frenchman came to the statement very happy and answered with irony when asked about his success.
In the 90th minute, 40 seconds before Nsimba scored, the French striker played the ball from an offside position. He had gone down to the half of the field when he was served by Tudor Băluță. He came from offside and played the ball without the assistant on that side, Adrian Vornicu, raising the flag! Even from the VAR room, nothing was signaled during the replays, and the goal remained valid, Craiova taking a huge step towards the title with 3 stages left to play.
The phase made the dynamists terribly angry, who hit back on social media, blaming the refereeing style. Nsimba came to the statement and was asked about what happened, answering very casually.
VIDEO. Steven Nsimba's reaction after scoring the winning goal against Dinamo
“The party's not over. I didn't check the phase, honestly, a goal is a goal, I can cry. I knew I would score. It's really good to score like that and come back like that to win the game. We have the support of the fans and it will be good for us. I'm trying to learn some songs from Romania.
(no about the goal celebration) To remind them that I'm still here. The coach made the decision, and I'm here to play, regardless of the situation,” said Steven Nsimba, immediately after the match, on the “Digi Sport” microphone.
Then, after the intervention from the flash-interview, Steven Nsimba returned to the mixed area, where he resumed the irony towards the opponent.
“We can't call ourselves champions yet, the job is not done, so we have to stay focused. It was a tough game, tough as always against them. But we managed to stay focused after conceding the first goal and showed them we're not afraid of them.
Now, we put the match in the past and focus on the next one. We keep the pressure on U Cluj and we know that we will continue like this. You always want to play, that's right, but it's the coach's decision (no reservation) and you have to accept it.
We continue in the same direction, we focus on what we have to do. It depends on us, we are in the first position and we have to continue like this. The atmosphere was superb, it reminded me of the match with Basaksehir, it was very good, very nice.
They can say what they want (not about Dinamo's complaints about his goal), a goal is a goal. The referee makes the decision. And now they can cry as much as they want”said Nsimba, at the mixed area.
Obviously offside, the goal should have been disallowed. Why Cătălin Popa didn't do it is impossible for me to explain. It is clear that this phase was not analyzed, not even considered.
Cătălin Popa is one of the best VAR referees, he has international tournaments, that's why I'm surprised he didn't take the stage from the beginning. It is clear that Dinamo does not control the ball, they have two rejections.
It's an obvious offside that should have been penalized, so the goal should have been disallowed. Why Cătălin didn't do it, I can't explain. It is clear that he did not analyze the phase. It's an offside that we can see with the naked eye, we don't have to draw lines.
– Marius Avram, former referee
The ranking from the Superliga play-off
