Bayern Munich coach Thomas Tuchel said the linesman apologized to him for a late offside call in Bayern's Champions League semi-final exit at the hands of Real Madrid on Wednesday, while that Matthijs de Ligt described the sanction as a “disgrace”.
De Ligt thought he had equalized in added time when the ball fell to him in the Madrid area and he finished, but referee Szymon Marciniak had already stopped the game for offside. The match ended with a dramatic 2-1 victory against Madrid minutes later that took them to the final 4-3 on aggregate.
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Speaking to TNT Sport, Tuchel said: “It was a disastrous decision by the linesman and the referee. In the end it feels almost like a betrayal for that decision. It was a great fight, we left everything on the field. We were almost there.” We arrived. Now we have to congratulate Real Madrid.
“The linesman asked for forgiveness… The referee does not have to sanction: he sees that we won the second ball, he sees that we got a long shot,” he added. “Whistling is a very, very bad decision. It's against the rules and it's a bad decision for both of us. It's a disaster, hard to accept, but that's the way it is.”
After the match, De Ligt said that the referee did not give Bayern the same opportunity as Madrid, pointing to Joselu's winning goal, who was called for offside after having scored and was later penalized by the assistant referee. video (VAR).
“I think we all know the rules. If the offside is not clear, you have to keep playing! This is the rule! I find it a bit embarrassing. Joselu's goal was also almost offside and they continue like this” . playing, so why not with us?” De Ligt said.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti rejected Bayern's complaints, saying his players stopped after Marciniak, who officiated the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France, blew the whistle and compared the play to an earlier disallowed goal. to Nacho Fernández for pushing Joshua Kimmich.
“The play is pretty clear, the linesman raised his flag, the referee blew his whistle and we stopped,” Ancelotti said. “If they complain about that, we can complain about Nacho's disallowed goal, because Kimmich jumped, they were both pushing each other.”
Madrid's victory sets up a final against Borussia Dortmund on June 1 at Wembley, where the LaLiga team will look to extend their record 15th Champions League trophy.
