Why Harry Kane Was Onside For England's Penalty Against Germany Explained

Harry Kane came to England's rescue on Tuesday night, as they drew 1-1 with Germany, but his winning of the all important penalty was extremely controversial.

Gareth Southgate's side looked on the verge of back-to-back defeats in the Nations League on Tuesday, with the possibility of relegation from League A becoming a real possibility.

Having lost to Hungary at the weekend, Jonas Hoffman's goal for Germany looked to be enough to earn them revenge from their elimination by their historic rivals at last summer's Euros.

However, with time ticking away, Kane won a penalty in the 88th minute when he was brought down by Nico Schlotterbeck in the box.

It was a contentious decision as many felt the striker went down easily, and the referee initially waved away the protests before checking the screen following instructions from the VAR official.

Fans were actually left baffled by the decision due to the forward being in an offside position when the initial pass went to him, but ESPN FC editor, and VAR aficionado, Dale Johnson has explained why Kane wasn't actually offside.

If you have Twitter then Johnson is certainly worth following for his weekly explanations of why certain decisions are or aren't given, during the season.

He certainly knows the rules better than most of us.

Of course many people pointed out the similarities in Tuesday night's decision to the one just 10 days before in the Champions League final.

In that incident Karim Benzema was ruled to be offside, after Fabinho's challenge went to the Real Madrid striker. Ironically at the time there was outrage that people disagreed with that decision but now they're annoyed that Kane wasn't...

Having won the controversial penalty, the Three Lions' captain then stepped up and dispatched it past Manuel Neuer to bring up his 50th international goal.

He is now just three behind Wayne Rooney's record, and Southgate's side still have games against Italy and Hungary to come in the next week.

Despite his goal, it was a forward who could have been playing alongside Kane that was earning all the plaudits after the game.

Germany's Jamal Musiala gave a stunning performance, the 19-year-old represented England at every age group from under 15s to under 21s, before switching allegiance in February 2021 to play for the team of his birth.