Thomas Tuchel lashed out at the referees of Bayern Munich’s Champions League semi-final match against Real Madrid after his team were denied a potential late equaliser.
Bayern were dramatically knocked out of the Champions League on Wednesday night, leading the tie with three minutes remaining but conceding two late goals to Joselu as Madrid booked their place at Wembley in early June.
But the former Stoke striker’s goals were only half the story, with Matthijs De Ligt scoring in the 13th minute of injury time, only for Polish referee Szymon Marciniak to have blown offside moments earlier.
Replays showed that the decision was very close, and at first glance Bayern’s Noussair Mazraoui appeared to be in play despite the decision. Because the whistle had already blown, VAR was unable to intervene and officials were asked to delay their calls in case they made a mistake.
Tuchel, speaking to TNT Sports, revealed that the assistant referee had apologized to him for scoring early in a move that could have cost his team the game.
Thomas Tuchel harshly criticized those responsible for Bayern Munich’s defeat against Real Madrid
Matthijs de Ligt was denied a late equalizer after it was ruled offside in the build-up, with the linesman marking early
“That was an absolute disaster,” the German said. ‘A violation of the rules.
‘This scene must play out to 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 equalized, then we conceded by a very close decision in stoppage time. Then we scored one and it was a disastrous decision by the linesman and the referee, so in the end it feels almost like a betrayal for that decision.
‘The linesman apologized. That doesn’t help at that level, raising the flag in a decision like this, in a close decision at the last minute. The referee too, he doesn’t have to whistle, he sees that we win the second ball, he sees that we get the shot off target. 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.’
He added: “Having the guts to raise the flag in a situation like that is a big mistake.” And then the referee, seeing that we won the rebound, made the decision to whistle. It wouldn’t have happened the other way around.
‘We accept (the linesman’s) apology but this is not the time to apologize. “It’s the semi-finals and it’s not the time to make those kinds of mistakes.”
De Ligt (left) had led the protests on the pitch, but the VAR was unable to intervene in the situation.
Tuchel described the situation as ‘betrayal’ and revealed that he received an apology from the linesman
De Ligt led Bayern’s protests on the pitch and echoed his coach’s comments after the match, as he too received an apology from the referees.
Bayern will now be left without trophies this season for the first time in more than a decade.
“We all know the rules, if the offside is not clear, then we have to continue playing,” said the Dutch defender. “It’s a shame that it happened against us and not for us on the other side, when Joselu was almost offside and the match was allowed to continue.
“A decision like that at the last minute is a mistake. It’s always easy to talk about the referee after the game, but this time it’s deserved.”
He added: “He said, ‘I’m sorry, I made a mistake,’ but that’s no consolation to me.”
De Ligt was polite when asked about Carlo Ancelotti’s team, saying: “We went from winning to losing in a moment and it feels terrible.” We were so close. We thought they were dead and they came back. “That’s why they have won the Champions League 14 times.”
Meanwhile, Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti (center) responded to Tuchel and De Ligt’s comments.
Ancelotti responded to Tuchel and De Ligt’s complaints: “If they complain about that, we can complain about our disallowed goal.” “The two players were pushing each other and it was Nacho who received the penalty.”
The record-breaking coach preferred to focus on Joselu, the scorer of two goals, adding: “He is the perfect representation of what this team is.” He hasn’t played much this season but he never gives up.”