Thomas Tuchel expressed his disbelief and frustration over the decision to disallow Matthijs de Ligt’s late goal during Wednesday’s defeat to Real Madrid, labeling the offside call as “disastrous.”
With Bayern Munich facing elimination after conceding two late goals to Madrid, the controversy arose when an early offside flag and the referee’s whistle halted Madrid’s defense, allowing De Ligt to score in the 13th minute of stoppage time.
Replays of the offside call revealed tight margins, leading to claims that the wrong decision had been made. Tuchel criticized the immediate stoppage of play instead of following the standard procedure and allowing the game to continue before a VAR review.
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“That was an absolute disaster,” Tuchel told TNT Sports. “A violation of the rules. This situation must play out until the end. That’s the rule. The linesman made an error, and the referee made a second error.”
De Ligt also expressed his frustration, highlighting a similar offside decision that benefited Madrid just minutes earlier.
“If it’s offside, it’s offside. But I think we have rules in football, and the rules state that if it’s not a clear offside – which it wasn’t because I haven’t seen it yet, whether it was offside or not – you have to continue playing,” he told beIN SPORTS.
“The linesman said to me, ‘I’m sorry, I made a mistake’ – I can’t buy anything for that. I’m not the type of person who wants to blame a loss or win on the referee, but it means you have to win because you win 2-1. I think if it’s a rule, it’s a rule.”