According to defender Matthijs de Ligt, Polish referee Szymon Marciniak apologized to the Bayern Munich players for the foul he committed in the 13th minute of stoppage time in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final. Together with assistant Tomasz Listkiewicz, they did not give the video referee the opportunity to review whether the Dutch defender had scored a regulation goal that would have sent the match to extra time. Real Madrid won 2:1 and after a draw in Bavaria in the first match, they celebrated progressing to the final, where they will face Dortmund at Wembley.
After 11 years, an all-German final could be repeated in London. But while Borussia on Tuesday over Paris St. Germain advanced, Bayern failed to succeed the next day at the Santiago Bernabéu. The visitors felt a great grievance after the match. “A total disaster,” coach Thomas Tuchel commented on the questionable statement of the Polish judges for DAZN. “The referees apologized to us,” stated De Ligt.
The judges who were entrusted with the final of the last World Cup took care of the questionable statement. The duel between Argentina and France in Qatar was led by Marciniak as the main and Listkiewicz helped him with the pennant on the line. Tomasz is the son of former referee Michal Listkiewicz, who years ago worked in Czech football as the head of the referees’ commission.
De Ligt equalized at 2:2 at the end of regulation, but the goal was not worth it. Assistant Listkiewicz signaled Mazráví was offside and captain Marciniak stopped the game before the ball reached the net. At the same time, it was not at all apparent from the repeated shots whether it was really an offside position. If the referees had let the whole event play out as they should have, the video referee would surely have reviewed it. However, the analysis of the video did not take place in this way at all.
“The referees were excellent until then, but this was an absolute short-circuit on their part. A classic situation that should be allowed to be played out, and then reviewed. After all, even actions when the offside is completely obvious are allowed to be played out. Here it was at most a millimeter, maybe not at all No,” veteran striker Thomas Müller protested in vain. It was he who passed to De Ligt on his unrecognized shot.
“I find it unbelievable, I don’t understand why they didn’t let the game continue. We played a decent game for the whole 90 minutes. It’s sad that it ends like this.” regretted the twenty-four-year-old Dutch representative.
Substitutes took care of valid goals. Alphonso Davies gave Bayern the lead, but Joselu topped it with two strikes. “There is no time for excuses in the semi-finals, there really isn’t. The action in question must be played to the end, that’s the rule. And the referee, regardless of whether it was offside or not, simply did not follow the rules. It was a borderline situation, at all did not give the video referee the opportunity to make an accurate check,” stated Tuchel, who will leave the team in the summer.
The Munich giants will end the season without winning a trophy for the first time since 2011/12. “We left the maximum on the pitch,” Müller stated.
Tags: referees apologized Bayern controversial action allowed finish whispered Tuchel
