A game between two of Europe’s most glamorous clubs, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, is certain to spark controversies at some point. A first leg at the Allianz Arena ended 2-2 leaving the tie all open to contest between the two sides at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Real Madrid with its fully packed stadium fell behind thanks to substitute one of their key targets Alphonso Davies’ superb curler in the second half. However, the game’s hero was a player who joined in late, Joselu.
The former Newcastle United man on loan from Espanyol equalized for Los Merengues with two minutes of normal time to play. That was after Nacho thought he had pulled the Kings of Europe back in the 75th minute only to see his goal ruled out for a foul on Joshua Kimmich.
But after the match, it was Bayern Munich who had a mouth full of complaints. Matthijs de Ligt, who thought he had pulled parity late in injury time to force extra time was heartbroken when his goal was ruled out for offside.
Matthijs de Ligt reacts after his goal was ruled out for offside. He thought he had scored a late equalizer for Bayern Munich. Photo: Getty Images
The Dutch international said after the match that the assistant referee apologized to him for the mistake that led to the goal being disallowed. And Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel also complained about the officiating.
However, Carlo Ancelotti who is returning to the final two years after winning it against Liverpool brushed off the complaints while pointing to other on-pitch decisions that did not favour his side.
“So the last move is pretty clear. The referee beeps the line, the referee lifts the whistle. We stopped. The referee has refereed the World Cup final. He is a high-level referee. Bayern complained about the offside? Ok, so we complain about the cancelled goal of Nacho because Kimmich threw himself away and dived.”
Carlo Ancelotti who is targeting his fifth Champions League title as a manager said Joshua Kimmich dived, deceiving the officials to disallow Nacho’s equalizer.
“If they complain about that, we can complain about our goal that was disallowed. Both players were pushing each other, and it’s Nacho who gets penalized.”