The game between Real Madrid and Bayern München will go down as one of the most intense in Champions League history, but it has also been tarnished by a fast decision by the referee and his assistant, which could have given Bayern a late, late equalizer.
The game had its share of controversy since Assistant No. 2, Adam Kupsik, had disallowed Joselu's second goal of the evening -and the eventual game-winning goal- after an alleged offside position. VAR stepped in to correct the mistake and ended giving Los Blancos the lead.
Way into stoppage time, the moment of the evening came when Matthijs de Ligt seemed to equalize following an unconvinced clearance by Real Madrid, which saw the defender striking the ball into the back of the net. Nonetheless, assistant ref Tomasz Listkiewicz decided to raise his flag immediately, forcing ref Szymon Marciniak to call the offside position before De Ligt scored the equalizer.
Speaking after the end of the match, De Ligt spoke out and revealed the assistant ref's words following all the turmoil, hinting that there was a human mistake involved to "help" Real Madrid reach the UEFA Champions League final.
Matthijs de Ligt: "The linesman told me: sorry, I made a mistake".
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 8, 2024
"It's been a shame", told @beINSPORTS_EN.pic.twitter.com/X4sjFu5As7