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.

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?

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.

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.”