Marciniak admitted to Bayern he was wrong to whistle before De Ligt's goal

In stoppage time of the second leg of the Champions League semi-final between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, Szymon Marciniak called offside on a long pass to Matthijs de Ligt even though the practice, since the introduction of VAR, has been to let plays of this kind finish for review. Bavarian sporting director Max Eberl said after the game that the referee admitted to him that it was a mistake.

He recounted his conversation with the referee in the mixed zone, surrounded by microphones from his country's press. Among the media deployed was 'Sky Sport', whose reporter Kerry Hau published the president's statements on his social networks. He has been in charge for just two months and has been tasked with part of the post-Tuchel rebuilding process, so this is one of his first major controversies in office.

After the match at the Santiago Bernabeu, the linesman himself, who raised the flag at the moment of the long ball to the man who would end up beating Andriy Lunin, who had already lowered his arms after hearing the whistle, spent some time talking to the members of the German side. There were many members of the visiting club who demanded explanations from the referees, so there were discussions.

The thing is, because Marciniak blew the whistle before the end of the move, the VAR could not come in to review it. In fact, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, the Real Madrid goalkeeper deactivated himself as soon as he heard the whistle, so it was impossible to make amends for a mistake which, again according to Max Eberl's account, the referee admitted and did not make on Joselu Mato's goal, assisted by Antonio Rudiger, to put the game beyond doubt in the 91st minute.

 

May 8, 2024