Bayern Munich boss Carlo Ancelotti was vocal about the need for video technology and was critical about the referee, as his side succumbed to a 4-2 defeat in extra time to Real Madrid in controversial circumstances at the Santiago Bernabeu, knocking them out of the UEFA Champions League.

 

After the cagey start to the game, Robert Lewandowski handed the Bavarians a vital lead from the penalty spot. Cristiano Ronaldo drew level in the second half through a perfectly weighted ball by Casemiro, who had somehow managed to escape a booking twice in the game. A lapse in concentration cost Madrid a goal minutes later, as their back-line was caught napping and Sergio Ramos ended up knocking the ball into his own net.



Arturo Vidal was shown a second yellow for a challenge that saw him get the ball and not the man. As the game headed into extra-time with the score 2-1, Real Madrid began to take control of the game as Bayern dropped deeper and deeper. Ronaldo got his second from an offside position and there were similar doubts about his third when Marcelo set him up to grab his fifth of the tie. 

 

Marco Asensio’s late, solo goal killed the tie off in perfect fashion as Bayern were left incredibly hard done to by numerous refereeing decisions that went against them. Ancelotti whose frustration was clear, said that it isn’t fair for referees to decide the fate of games as colossal as this. The Italian said: "We had thought of everything going into this game - except the referee. You can't decide a semi-final spot like this. It shouldn't happen at this level."

 

He admitted that Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai came up with a performance worse than Bayern’s own, but reflected upon how proud he was of his players. He said: "The referee had a bad game. Full stop. He was worse than our performance."

 

"I am really proud. We had players that were not 100 percent but sacrificed everything. We played really well and were so close to the semi-finals. We were penalised by some decisions from the referee. I know that this is football and sometimes it can happen. But not this series of mistakes.”

 

Despite that, the former AC Milan boss said that they didn’t deserve to win the game, but the first-leg was something that they should have won. "We played about an hour over the two games with 10 against Madrid, which is not very easy. We deserved it in first leg, not today. We have to accept it and go forward to win the Bundesliga, the Pokal, and next year we are back in the Champions League."

 

Ancelotti revealed that the only thing he told Kassai after the game concluded was ‘good job’ and talked up the possibility of using video replay technology in games. He said: "I hope that really soon in the future the referee can be helped by TV. These sort of mistakes shouldn't be possible in the quarterfinal of the Champions League.
 

"In the quarterfinals you must be a referee with more quality or VAR as there are too many mistakes. Arturo deserved the first yellow, but the second yellow was a mistake by the referee. To win the Champions League it is about small details, and in this sense we have not had much luck."
 

This was the first time after six campaigns that the Bavarians have been knocked out of the Champions League before reaching the semi-finals of the competition, with their defeat to Inter Milan in the Round of 16 of the 2010-11 season being the last time they were ousted so early.


Kaustubh Pandey