Thomas Tuchel slams ‘absolute disaster’ of a decision to deny Bayern Munich a late equaliser against Real Madrid in dramatic Champions League semi-final defeat and blames two officials

Thomas Tuchel has intervened in Bayern Munich’s refereeing match in the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid after his side were denied a potential late equalizer.

Bayern crashed out of the Champions League in dramatic fashion on Wednesday night, leading the tie with three minutes to go, but conceded 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: Matthijs De Ligt scored in the 13th minute of stoppage time, only because the Polish referee Szymon Marciniak had blown the whistle for offside moments earlier.

Replays showed the call to be extremely tight, with Bayern’s Noussair Mazraoui appearing to be onside despite the call. Because the whistle had already blown, VAR could not intervene, with officials told to defer their calls if they were wrong.

Speaking to TNT Sports, Tuchel revealed that the assistant referee had apologized to him for flagging early in the match for a move that could have cost his team the match.

Matthijs de Ligt was denied a late equalizer after offside was ruled to have occurred in the build-up, with the linesman flagging early

“That was an absolute disaster,” said the German. ‘A violation of the rules.

“This scene must be played 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 from the best player for the equalizer, after which we had to concede a very close decision in injury time. Then we scored one and it was a disastrous decision by the linesman and the referee, so it almost feels like a betrayal in the end because of that decision.

‘The linesman said sorry. That doesn’t help at that kind of level, to raise the flag on a decision like this, on a tight decision in the last minute. The referee too, he doesn’t have to whistle, he sees us winning the second ball, he sees us getting the shot away. Whistling is a very, very bad decision.

‘It’s against the rules and it’s a bad decision by both of them. It’s a disaster, hard to swallow, but it is what it is.’

He added: “It is a big mistake to have the balls to raise the flag in such a situation. And then the referee, when he saw that we had won the rebound, made the decision to blow the whistle. It wouldn’t have happened the other way around.

‘We accept (the linesman’s) apology, but this is not the time to apologise. It’s the semi-final and it’s not the time to make those kinds of mistakes.”

De Ligt (left) had led the protests on the field, but VAR was unable to intervene in the situation

Tuchel branded the situation a ‘betrayal’ and revealed he had received an apology from the linesman

De Ligt had led Bayern’s on-pitch protests and echoed his manager’s comments after the match by also receiving an apology from the referees.

Bayern will now be trophyless for the 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 at the other end when Joselu was almost offside and the game was allowed to continue.

‘Such a decision in the last minute is a mistake. It’s always easy to talk about the referee after the match, but this time it’s deserved.”

He added: ‘He said, “I’m sorry, I made a mistake”, but that’s no comfort to me.’

De Ligt was gracious when asked about Carlo Ancelotti’s team: ‘We went from winning to losing in the blink of an eye and it feels terrible. We were so close. We thought they were dead and they came back. That’s why they’ve won the Champions League fourteen times.’

Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti (centre), meanwhile, hit back at Tuchel and De Ligt’s comments

However, Ancelotti responded to Tuchel and De Ligt’s complaints, saying: ‘If they complain about that, we can complain about our disallowed goal. Both players pushed each other and it is Nacho who is punished.’

The record-breaking coach preferred to focus on two-goal Joselu, adding: “He is the perfect representation of what this team stands for. He hasn’t played much this season, but he never gives up.’