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Goal-line Technology
The striker is through on goal, one on one with the keeper, rounds them and slots the ball home. You fully expect the net to bulge and the striker is already running off to celebrate. It’s not the end of the story though, a defender has raced back and managed to make a last ditch goal line clearance, sliding in to sweep the ball away just before it crosses the line for a goal. Last ditch defending masterclass.
One of the most famous examples of a goal line clearance came in the Manchester City v Liverpool match in 2019. After a mix-up with Ederson in goal, Sadio Mane thought he’d scored only for John Stones to slide in and hook the ball away. The referees watch didn’t buzz and the replays of the goal line technology showed the ball was just 11.2mm away from fully crossing the line. Manchester City won the match 2-1 and the league title from Liverpool by a single point, 98 points to 97.
Bodies everywhere, defenders and the goalkeeper blocking the goal, legs flying in, arms in the air as the ball bounces around. There’s nothing quite like a goal mouth scramble where there are air kicks and a mass of bodies around the goalkeeper and in the six-yard box. Defenders do everything to block and clear, attackers try desperately to get the ball over the line, mostly it’s just chaos and a blur as the ball bounces back and forth off shins and calves and chests and heads. It usually ends up in a wild clearance to row Z or the ball being smashed into the net.
In the Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester United in January 2026 a Bukayo Saka corner bounced around the six-yard box before Mikel Merino bundled the ball over the line in chaotic fashion. It wasn’t until after a clearance that the referee’s watch buzzed to say the ball had crossed the line and a goal had been scored.