Lionel Messi showed his incredible football IQ to destroy the offside rule

Marcus Rashford caught a lot of attention at the weekend due to his position for Bruno Fernandes goal in the Manchester derby, but one Lionel Messi goal proves how you can make sure you're not interfering.

The debate has rolled on since Saturday afternoon's win for Manchester United over rivals Manchester City, thanks to the goal that levelled the game.

After Jack Grealish opened the scoring around the hour mark, as a huge impact substitute, it looked like City would take the three points.

However, Fernandes equalised in the 78th minute, despite the fact that Rashford was clearly in an offside position and ran towards the ball for much of the move.

The question was whether or not the referee and his assistant felt that the United forward being there made any difference for the goal or not.

One fan edited the 25-year-old out of the situation to show that Manuel Akanji probably would have got there if Rashford wasn't in the way.

Whilst not everyone was sure about the offside rule, one man certainly didn't have that problem and that's Messi, whose positioning has proved he knows what to do when he's offside.

In a Champions League game for Barcelona, against APOEL, back in November 2014, the forward scored one of three goals by standing still.

Clearly knowing he was in an offside position, Messi allowed the ball to go past him, Pedro got to the ball and when he pulled it back his teammate was now onside, due it being the next phase of play.

Messi had more part in the goal than Rashford, seeing as he scored it, and was still definitely benefitting from the fact he was already in an offside position when he eventually slotted the goal home.

However, merely knowing that if he didn't move then he would remain onside is proof just how good his knowledge of the game is.

It was a hell of a game for the seven time Ballon d'Or winner as well as he scored a hat-trick in the game, with all three of them scored with his 'wrong,' right, foot.

Certainly the way that the offside rule is refereed has caused some questions, specifically over how the law is written, in recent weeks.

Fans were calling for Mohamed Salah's goal to be ruled offside during Liverpool's recent draw in the FA Cup with Wolverhampton Wanderers, but the touch from a Wolves player meant it was onside, even though the Egyptian benefitted from being beyond the final defender.

Fernandes celebrates his goal whilst City players question the referee. Image: Alamy

It certainly won't have helped City fans' mood that, having been the problem for the opening goal, Rashford then scored the winner just minutes later.

And United's social media team have rubbed salt into the wounds of their rivals, posting the video of Fernandes' goal with MC Hammer's 'Can't Touch This' playing over the top of it.

The win put Erik ten Hag's side within one point of their local rivals and helped Arsenal open up an eight point gap on the champions, after they won the north London derby.

Topics: Premier League, Marcus Rashford, Manchester United, Barcelona, Lionel Messi

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

@Sidler28