Thomas Tuchel expressed frustration at the “absolute disaster” decision that disallowed Matthijs de Ligt’s late equaliser for Bayern Munich against Real Madrid.
Bayern, leading the heavyweight semi-final tie with three minutes remaining, suffered a sudden collapse after substituting 44-goal striker Harry Kane, allowing Blancos substitute Joselu to score twice in three minutes.
Although Bayern believed they had secured a 113th-minute equaliser with De Ligt’s goal, it was disallowed for a debatable offside call that had halted play, and VAR could not review the decision.
Match officials are told to delay such calls when decisions are so tight, with Noussair Mazraoui potentially level with the last man, and Bayern boss Tuchel told TNT Sports afterwards: “That was an absolute disaster. A violation of the rules. This scene must be played out until the end.
That’s the rule. The linesman made the mistake, and the referee made the second mistake. We were almost there and a very unusual mistake by the best player for the equaliser, we conceded in a very narrow decision in stoppage time.
Then we scored one and it was a disastrous decision from the linesman and the referee, so it feels almost like a betrayal in the end because of that decision. The linesman said sorry. That does not help at that kind of level—to raise the flag in a decision like this, in a close decision at the last minute.
The referee as well; he does not have to whistle; he sees that we win the second ball; he sees that we get the shot away. To whistle is a very, very bad decision. It is against the rules and it is a bad decision from both of them. It is a disaster, tough to swallow, but it is the way it is.”
Tuchel added, “Having the balls to raise the flag in a situation like that is a big mistake. And then the referee, when he saw that we had won the rebound, made the decision to whistle. It wouldn’t have happened the other way around. We accept the apology (from the linesman) but this is not the time to apologise. It’s the semi-finals and it’s not the time to make those sorts of mistakes.”
Real Madrid has secured their spot in another Champions League final, setting up a showdown against Borussia Dortmund, who are also from Germany.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich will be left to ponder over a season without a major trophy for the first time since 2011–12.