Real Madrid completed a miraculous comeback against Bayern Munich in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, reaching the European title match against Borussia Dortmund by an aggregate score of 4-3.
Joselu’s late brace from the bench snatched victory from the jaws of defeat as the German side collapsed at the Bernabeu, appearing to have overcome a thunderbolt from Alphonso Davies but could not hold off a 2-1 defeat.
However, the result was not without enormous controversy, as Bayern Munich had Matthijs de Ligt’s late equalizing goal disallowed for offside in added time. The assistant referee flagged offside in the build-up to disallowing the goal and, although replays appeared to show the decision was incorrect, it was not reviewed by VAR.
Jugo Mobile explains exactly what happened and why the goal was disallowed with chalk and not reviewed by offside technology.
Why was Bayern Munich’s goal against Real Madrid disallowed?
With Real Madrid up 2-1 and the game in nine minutes of extra time, Bayern Munich threw everything forward hoping to achieve a last-gasp equalizer to send the game into extra time.
A deep ball from Josh Kimmich was launched by Bayern Munich towards the top of the penalty area, where Noussair Mazraoui fought for the ball with a defender. First met by Ferland Mendy’s header, but not completely cleared, Bayern substitute Thomas Müller pounced on the swinging ball and nodded laterally towards Matthijs de Ligt, a defender playing as an emergency striker. on a late desperate play by Coach Thomas. Tuchel.
LOOK: Look at Bayern Munich’s goal disallowed at the end against Real Madrid (USA)
De Ligt managed to free himself for Muller’s header and fired at a confused Andriy Lunin, who remained curiously still, almost as if he had stopped playing. That’s because he had indeed stopped playing, reacting to hearing the whistle just before De Ligt’s shot. So did Madrid defenders Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao.
The referee had blown his whistle, reacting to the assistant referee who had raised his flag for an offside infringement on Mazraoui in the build-up. However, replays immediately afterwards showed that Mazraoui was quite close to Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger, and may have actually been in play: De Ligt was leaning, but it was not he who received the ball from deep, it was It was done by Mazraoui, who seemed to be only a little behind Rudiger.
uh…that doesn’t seem out of line pic.twitter.com/pfhPygxGTM
— CJ Fogler’s account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) May 8, 2024
Don’t worry, we have semi-automatic offside technology to correct the decision, which came into play early in the match, upon seeing a Joselu goal count after it had initially been overturned. Except it wasn’t…why?
Why didn’t the VAR review the offside of Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid?
Since the incident occurred at the end of the match between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, broadcasters did not have enough time to inform fans about what happened and therefore viewers were left confused as to why it was not scored. Matthijs de Ligt’s goal. given after initially being ruled out for offside.
In fact, the incident was not even reviewed by VAR, because technically it never happened. Because the referee blew his whistle before the end of the play, the VAR cannot review the shot as he stopped play before the shot occurred. That’s why Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin stood still when De Ligt put the ball in the net, because he had reacted to the whistle.
Thus, the play was not reviewable by the VAR. Since the introduction of VAR, assistant referees have been instructed to leave the flag down for a few extra seconds to allow play to continue, so that if their decision is incorrect they do not stop a promising attack with a wrong decision.
However, this instruction was not followed by the assistant referee. either the main official. Instead, the AR raised his flag immediately and the head referee blew his whistle in response, ending the game early. While the call normally would have been reviewable if the referee had not stopped play early because he wasted the play, it could not be reviewed.
It was a sharp change from a refereeing mantra that has been in place for years, ever since VAR was introduced. While television broadcasters repeatedly complain that referees let the game continue, in their opinion, too long before calling it dead for offside, this exact situation is what they hope to avoid by doing so.
In his post-match television coverage, beIN Sports drew its own offside linesand determined that Mazraoui, in his opinion, was indeed in play, which would have made the goal stand.
??| According @being in sportsMazraoui was ONSIDE in the play that led to De Ligt putting the ball in the back of the net. pic.twitter.com/sEUFx8y9Jw
– Central objectives. (@centregoals) May 8, 2024
Who was the referee of Bayern Munich’s disallowed goal against Real Madrid?
The all-Polish refereeing team for Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich at the Bernabéu was headed by head referee Szymon Marciniak, one of the most experienced referees not only in Europe, but in the world.
Marciniak is the two-time winner of the “World’s Best Referee” award from the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), the organization that is largely considered responsible for maintaining official world football records and other historical markers. .
Thanks to his nearly immaculate reputation, Marciniak has received two of the most prestigious assignments in football officiating. He refereed the 2023 Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter Milan, and refereed the 2022 FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and France.
All this to say that Marciniak is as experienced as they come, but he still made a big mistake. Although Polish assistant Tomasz Listkiewicz raised the flag for him early, that doesn’t stop the game on its own. Even if the flag is raised, it is up to Marciniak to let the game continue or blow his whistle, and in this situation he made a clearly incorrect decision.
Thomas Tuchel describes the referee’s error against Real Madrid as a “disaster”
Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel was understandably beside himself at the end of the match, feeling his club had been robbed of a place in the Champions League final.
Both Tuchel and Matthijs de Ligt confirmed that the assistant referee personally admitted his mistake and apologized to both of them, but that was not enough to calm the furious Bayern coach.
“It is a disastrous decision by the linesman and the referee.” Tuchel said after the match to British broadcaster TNT Sports. “In the end, because of that decision, it feels almost like a betrayal.”
“The linesman said ‘I’m sorry’ but that doesn’t help. At this level, raising the flag on a decision like this at the last minute. And the referee too, the referee doesn’t have to whistle… whistling is “It’s a very, very bad decision. “It’s against the rules and it’s a very bad decision for both of us, but that’s what it is.”
De Ligt echoed that sentiment, told beIN Sports: “If it’s offside, it’s offside, but in football we set rules, and the rule says that if it’s not a clear offside, which it wasn’t, you have to keep playing. “. If you arrive at the last minute and whistle like that, I think it’s a big mistake. If it’s offside, you can check it, but if you don’t check it, how can you see it?
“The linesman told me, ‘I’m sorry I made a mistake,’ but I can’t buy anything with that.”
