A tournament controversy broke out yesterday over Ruud van Nistelrooy's first goal for Netherlands against Italy with referees and players arguing about an interpretation of the offside law.

Van Nistelrooy scored in the 26th minute of his team's 3-0 Group C win in Berne, turning a fierce drive from Wesley Sneijder past keeper Gianluigi Buffon from close range.

The Italians protested he was offside and video replays showed him in what looked a blatant offside position. Van Nistelrooy and his team mates looked nervously around expecting the linesman's flag as they celebrated the goal.

But later there was confusion about whether Italy defender Christian Panucci had played the Dutch striker onside.

Panucci fell and went off the field of play behind the byline after clashing with other players in the preceding goalmouth scramble and was lying injured on his back when the ball went into the net.

Austrian referees' commission chairman Gerhard Kapl was quoted on the Austrian Web site www.sportal.at as saying the goal was correctly awarded.

"The injured player behind the goal counts as a player on the field and therefore it was not offside," said Kapl.

Predictably, Dutch players said the goal was good and Italian players said it was not.

UEFA were unable to clear up the matter immediately and none of the experts quoted on various TV networks seemed able to point to a rule in FIFA's laws of the game which could clarify the position.

UEFA media official Richard Hurni told Reuters at the stadium: "There won't be anything official tonight. It will probably be at the briefing tomorrow."

Tournament organisers hold a daily media briefing at 10 a.m. UEFA general secretary David Taylor was due to be at today's briefing.