Thomas Tuchel calls decision to rule out late Bayern goal ‘disastrous’ - ‘Almost like a betrayal’

Thomas Tuchel slammed the "disastrous" decision by the match officials to disallow Matthijs de Ligt's late goal as Bayern Munich crashed out of the UEFA Champions League to Real Madrid.

The flashpoint occurred in the 13th minute of injury time when Bayern pumped the ball into the Madrid box to Noussair Mazraoui who knocked the ball down for the Dutch defender. 

De Ligt volleyed the ball into the net, only for the referee to wave the goal away on account of the linesman raising his flag.

Tuchel and several players were incensed and strongly protested the decision.

Replays show that there may not have been an offside and the linesman raised his flag early.

“We scored one, and it’s a disastrous decision from the linesman and referee,” the Bayern manager said.

“It feels almost like a betrayal in the end because of that decision.

“The linesman said sorry - that does not help. To raise the flag in a decision like this, in a close decision in the last minute.

“And the referee as well, the referee does not have to whistle. He sees that we win the second ball.

“To whistle, it’s a very, very bad decision and it’s against the rules. It’s a bad decision from both of them, it’s a disaster. Tough to swallow.”

The call was naturally a point of conversation amongst TNT Sports pundits Owen Hargreaves and Paul Scholes in the post-match analysis.

“I think the linesman puts his flag up too early,” said Scholes.

"It's close. I’m not sure they’re offside. The linesman is too hasty, he’s got to wait, they’re the rules now.”

"That's what we see all the time, we're always moaning about linesmen not putting up [the flag] - he's done it straight away.

"But once that flags gone up, they cannot give the goal."

Hargreaves chimed in, noting the feeling that Bayern's players will have felt in that moment.

That's why football is so beautiful but so awful at the same time. Those players will be so upset on what's been a really difficult season for Bayern Munich."

Bayern had one foot in the final when Alphonso Davies scored in the 68th minute, cutting inside and firing past Andriy Lunin thanks to a superb pass from Kane.

In typical Madrid fashion, the Spanish giants hit Bayern with a quick one-two as former Stoke City striker Joselu grabbed a brace.

The Spaniard scored an 88th-minute equaliser when he reacted quickly after Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer fumbled Vinicius Jr's effort.

He popped up two minutes later with the winner, latching onto Antonio Rudiger's pass across the box.

Then 12 minutes later the offside situation occurred, confirming Bayern's first trophyless season since 2011-12, and leaving Harry Kane still hunting for his first major honour.

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