The disbelief among England fans was palpable as they were convinced that the Real Sociedad forward was offside when he struck the winning goal for Spain. Oyarzabal played a superb one-two with Marc Cucurella, while moving in-between John Stones and Marc Guehi before finding the back of the net from around six yards out.

Screengrabs of Oyarzabal’s position at the time of Cucurella’s assist immediately went viral on social media, as England fans were certainly convinced that the striker was offside and were eagerly anticipating a VAR check, which never came, at least on TV. One person wrote: “His foot is sticking out there,” another added: “This is robbery,” while a third echoed: “How that wasn’t even checked? That looked offside.”

Was Mikel Oyarzabal’s winner for Spain offside?

Despite the cry from England fans, given that the VAR check wasn’t shown on Live TV, UEFA’s high-tech cameras proved that the referee was right in allowing Spain the winning goal. While to the naked eye, it did seem that Oyarzabal might have moved ahead of Stones, and hence the viewers reckoned that there would be a lengthy delay with officials wanting to examine the possibilities of an offside.

However, the on-field referees were quickly asked to continue the match with the technology used in Berlin showing that the right kneecap of Stones played Oyarzabal onside by the barest of margins.

The 2024 edition of the Euros marked a significant milestone with the introduction of ‘connected ball technology’. This innovative system, which uses a motion sensor inserted in the ball, provides officials with live game data, revolutionising the way offside decisions are made. It was this very technology that played a crucial role in confirming Spain’s winning goal. In addition, UEFA has also used 10 specialised cameras installed at the stadium to track players’ body points.