Real Madrid completed a miraculous comeback against Bayern Munich in the second leg of their Champions League semifinal, reaching the European title match against Borussia Dortmund by a 4-3 aggregate score.
Joselu's late brace off the bench snatched victory from the jaws of defeat as the German side collapsed at the Bernabeu, appearing to be through on an Alphonso Davies thunderbolt but failing to hang on in a 2-1 defeat.
However, the result didn't come without enormous controversy, as Bayern Munich had a late equalising goal by Matthijs de Ligt deep in stoppage time ruled out for offside. The assistant referee flagged for offside in the buildup to rule out the goal, and while replays appeared to show the decision was incorrect, it was not reviewed by VAR.
The Sporting News explains exactly what happened and why the goal was chalked off, and not reviewed by the offside technology.
MORE: The simple definition of the offside rule and how refs get it wrong
Why was Bayern Munich goal vs Real Madrid disallowed?
With Real Madrid up 2-1 and the match deep into nine minutes of stoppage time, Bayern Munich threw everything forward hoping for a last-gasp equaliser to send the match to extra-time.
A ball from deep by Josh Kimmich was delivered by Bayern Munich towards the top of the penalty area, where Noussair Mazraoui battled for the ball with a defender. It is initially met by the head of Ferland Mendy, but not fully cleared, Bayern substitute Thomas Muller pounced on the bobbling ball, nodding it laterally to Matthijs de Ligt, a defender playing forward as an emergency striker on a late desperation play from manager Thomas Tuchel.
WATCH: Watch Bayern Munich disallowed goal late vs. Real Madrid (USA)
De Ligt managed to free himself for Muller's header and rifled a shot past a confused Andriy Lunin, who stood curiously still, almost as if he had stopped playing. That's because he had indeed stopped playing, reacting to hearing the whistle blow just prior to De Ligt's shot. So too did Madrid defenders Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao.
The official had blown his whistle, reacting to the assistant referee who had raised his flag for an offside offence on Mazraoui in the buildup. However, replays in the immediate aftermath showed that Mazraoui was quite tight with Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger, and may have actually been onside — De Ligt was leaning just off, but he was not the one to receive the ball from deep, it was instead Mazraoui did, who appeared to be just a smidge behind Rudiger.
uh... that doesn't look offside pic.twitter.com/pfhPygxGTM
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) May 8, 2024
No worry, we have semi-automated offside technology to correct the decision, which came into play earlier in the match, seeing a Joselu goal count after initially being disallowed. Except, it wasn't...why?
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Why wasn't Bayern Munich offside call vs Real Madrid reviewed by VAR?
With the incident happening at the very end of the match between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, broadcasters didn't have ample time to inform fans about what happened, and thus viewers will have been left confused about why the Matthijs de Ligt goal wasn't given after being initially ruled out for offside.
In fact, the incident wasn't even reviewed by VAR, because technically, it never happened. Because the referee blew his whistle before the end of the play, the shot cannot be reviewed by VAR as he stopped play before the shot occurred. That is why Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin was standing still as De Ligt put the ball in the net, because he had reacted to the whistle.
Thus, the play was not reviewable by VAR. Ever since the introduction of VAR, assistant referees have been instructed to leave their flag down for an extra few beats to allow play to continue, such that if their decision is incorrect, they do not stop a promising attack with the wrong call.
However, that instruction was not heeded here by either the assistant referee or the head official. Instead, the AR raised his flag immediately, and the head official blew his whistle in response, ending play early. While the decision would normally have been reviewable had the official not stopped play early, because he blew the play dead, it could not be reviewed.
It was a sharp departure from a refereeing mantra that has been in place for years, ever since VAR was introduced. While television broadcasters repeatedly complain about officials letting play continue, in their mind, too long before blowing dead for offside, this exact situation is what they are hoping to prevent by doing so.
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In their postmatch television coverage, beIN Sports drew their own offside lines, and determined that Mazraoui, in their estimation, was indeed onside, which would have seen the goal stand.
🚨🚨| According to @beINSPORTS, Mazraoui was ONSIDE in the play that lead to De Ligt putting the ball in the back of the net. pic.twitter.com/sEUFx8y9Jw
— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) May 8, 2024
Who was referee for Bayern Munich disallowed goal vs Real Madrid?
The all-Polish officiating crew for Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich at the Bernabeu was headlined by lead official Szymon Marciniak, who is one of the most experienced referees not just in Europe, but in the world.
Marciniak is the two-time defending winner of the “World’s Best Referee” award by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), the organisation which is held largely responsible for keeping global football's official records and other historical markers.
Thanks to his nearly immaculate reputation, Marciniak has been handed two of football officiating's most prestigious assignments. He was the official for the 2023 Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter Milan, and he officiated the 2022 FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and France.
All this to say that Marciniak is as experienced as they come, but still committed a grave error. While Polish assistant Tomasz Listkiewicz raised his flag early, that does not stop play on its own. Even if the flag goes up, it is down to Marciniak to allow play to continue or blow his whistle, and in this situation he made the clearly incorrect decision.
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Thomas Tuchel calls referee error vs. Real Madrid a 'disaster'
Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel was understandably beside himself at the end of the match, feeling that his club was robbed of a spot in the Champions League final.
Both Tuchel and Matthijs de Ligt confirmed that the assistant referee personally admitted his mistake and apologised to both, but that was not enough to calm the fuming Bayern boss.
"It's a disastrous decision from the linesman and the referee," Tuchel said after the match to UK broadcaster TNT Sports. "It feels almost like a betrayal in the end because of that decision."
"The linesman said 'sorry' but that does not help. At this level, to raise the flag in a decision like this in the last minute. And the referee as well, the referee does not have to whistle...to whistle is a very very bad decision. It's against the rules and is a very bad decision by both of them, but that's the way it is."
De Ligt echoed that sentiment, saying to beIN Sports, ''If it's offside, it's offside, but we make rules in football, and the rule says if it's not a clear offside, which it wasn't, you have to keep playing. If you go in the last minute and whistle like this, I think it's a big mistake. If it's offside, you can check it, but if you don't check it, how can you see it?
"The linesman said to me 'I'm sorry I made a mistake,' but I can buy nothing with that.''