As Blackburn slumped to their first home defeat in nine games against Liverpool, all the talk was about Robbie Fowler's controversial winner which proved to be the only goal of the game.
In the lead up to the goal Djibril Cisse, standing in an offside position, attempted, but failed, to flick on the through ball and it was this failure to make contact that persuaded the linesman that the Frenchman was not interfering with play.
The move continued to develop with Fernando Morientes providing the cross for Fowler to shoot into a virtually unguarded net.
Fowler said: "I've not known what's happened; Djibs was probably in an offside position, but thankfully the goal stood."
Surprisingly both managers were in agreement that the offside law needs clarifying in these situations to prevent confusion and make the referee's job easier.
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez, whilst admitting he had not seen a replay of the incident, took the simplistic view that offside is offside regardless of whether a player is interfering with play or not.
Similarly his Blackburn counterpart Mark Hughes was left frustrated at the different interpretations officials make on the contentious offside law.
"The ball's thrown in, and he makes movement towards the ball - so in my view he is interfering with play," said Hughes.
"The law is very unclear, and it's very difficult to hold a defensive line.
"Nobody knows the circumstances of it and until it is cleared up there are always going to be incidents as we have seen today."
Although referee Alan Wiley was reported to be happy with his decision to let the goal stand after consulting his assistant, Hughes added: "They've probably looked at it at half-time and got their story right."
Benitez added: "I haven't seen replay. It was a throw-in and I told John (Arne Riise) to just get the ball in quick. Cisse never touched the ball but the offside rule needs to change because it causes problems for the referees."
In the lead up to the goal Djibril Cisse, standing in an offside position, attempted, but failed, to flick on the through ball and it was this failure to make contact that persuaded the linesman that the Frenchman was not interfering with play.
The move continued to develop with Fernando Morientes providing the cross for Fowler to shoot into a virtually unguarded net.
Fowler said: "I've not known what's happened; Djibs was probably in an offside position, but thankfully the goal stood."
Surprisingly both managers were in agreement that the offside law needs clarifying in these situations to prevent confusion and make the referee's job easier.
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez, whilst admitting he had not seen a replay of the incident, took the simplistic view that offside is offside regardless of whether a player is interfering with play or not.
Similarly his Blackburn counterpart Mark Hughes was left frustrated at the different interpretations officials make on the contentious offside law.
"The ball's thrown in, and he makes movement towards the ball - so in my view he is interfering with play," said Hughes.
"The law is very unclear, and it's very difficult to hold a defensive line.
"Nobody knows the circumstances of it and until it is cleared up there are always going to be incidents as we have seen today."
Although referee Alan Wiley was reported to be happy with his decision to let the goal stand after consulting his assistant, Hughes added: "They've probably looked at it at half-time and got their story right."
Benitez added: "I haven't seen replay. It was a throw-in and I told John (Arne Riise) to just get the ball in quick. Cisse never touched the ball but the offside rule needs to change because it causes problems for the referees."
