Kroos claims Cucurella's handball was 'badly refereed'

Recently retired footballer Toni Kroos admitted on his podcast 'Einfach mal Luppen' that he was angry when he saw Cucurella's handball at the end of Spain's Euro 2024 quarter-final against Germany.

The former Real Madrid player, who warned that he had "held back until today" from talking about the issue, said he feels, "obviously bitter" when you look at the whole result and the importance of a goal at that moment, although all they can do is "accept it".

"That means you're not so angry with the referee at the time because you can't judge it that way yourself. Of course, then, I paid attention to the referee. He was of the opinion that he didn't even have to look at it or the video referee was of the opinion that he should tell him: 'You don't have to look at it, it's not a handball," he stressed.

The German, while admitting he did not see Cucurella's action in the match, said the referee Anthony Taylor, "should have at least looked at it". "I think the problem was: I knew that, if he looked at it, he had to give it. And I got the feeling that he didn't necessarily want to give it in a game like that," he added.