Everyone connected with Aston Villa - and indeed, most of the wider football community - were left baffled by the decision to allow Manchester City’s opening goal to stand on Wednesday night.Bernardo Silva put City 1-0 up with a brilliant strike from the edge of the box, but Rodri was in an offside position moments before dispossessing Tyrone Mings.Rodri won the ball and then played it to Bernardo, who beat Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez. Surely it should have been disallowed by VAR?Well, it turned out that allowing the goal to stand *was* the correct decision.Why? Because Mings deliberately touched the ball, this subsequently reset the offside phase, bringing Rodri onside.

A strange rule, perhaps, but the match officials were simply abiding by the current laws of the game.

Mings called the rule “nonsense” on Twitter after the match, adding: “Never even heard of that rule, just let players stand offside, then run back & tackle you?”

Many were in agreement.

And football fans were even more confused hours later when a clip from the Italian Super Cup final between Juventus and Napoli was posted on social media.

The video shows Cristiano Ronaldo coming back from an offside position, like Rodri, but being penalised after touching the ball.

Watch it here...

Where’s the consistency?

Surely - by the letter of the law - Ronaldo was *not* offside because Napoli right-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo touched the ball?

Di Lorenzo may have miscontrolled the ball but it still appeared a deliberate attempt to continue play.

Now that players are more aware of this unusual rule, there’s a high chance we’ll see further controversial incidents over the coming weeks and months.