Apparently the Easiest Goal of Jamie Vardy's Career Should Have Been Disallowed

As the only blight on what was otherwise a comprehensive 4-1 dismantling at the hands of Liverpool, Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy managed to introduce some modicum of drama when he gratefully swept home what can only be described as an inch-perfect assist from the Reds’ Lucas Leiva.

One could reasonably assume that the first half tap-in, occurring when the midfielder slipped and laid an inviting ball across the six-yard box while trying to play out from the back, presumably ranks as the easiest of Vardy’s 53 career Premier League strikes.

However, according the FIFA rule book, the goal should in fact have been disallowed. The reason being that the pressure from Leicester’s Shinji Okazaki that forced Lucas into the defensive error was actually applied by from an illegal position.

Apparently:

“The ball is in play when it leaves the penalty area, and opponents must be outside the penalty area until the ball is in play.”

“If an opponent who is in the penalty area when the goal kick is taken touches or challenges for the ball before it has touched another player, the goal- kick is retaken.”

Okazaki is clearly in the box when the ball is played out to Lucas from Mignolet and clearly this means that either the goal must be expunged from the records or the whole glorious match must simply be played again for our enjoyment.

The team themselves weren’t all overly concerned—a win will do that—as Jürgen Klopp jokingly naming the Brazilian man-of-the-match, while the player himself came through with one of the better quips of the young season:

A win is a win, but all in favor of starting a Change.org petition for a retroactive clean sheet and/or replay, say aye.