Matthis de Ligt has revealed referee said sorry to him for his incorrect call in Bayern Munich’s dramatic Champions League semi-final defeat to Real Madrid – but his apologies have been firmly rejected by the German giants.
Bayern crashed out of the competition after a 4-3 aggregate defeat at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night, undone by two goals in the space of three minutes from substitute Joselu.
The visitors thought they had equalised in the 13th minute of added time when de Ligt drilled home after a knockdown from Thomas Muller.
However, the referee’s whistle had already been blown as the defender’s shot hit the back of the net with Noussair Mazraoui judged to have been offside in the build-up.
Replays immediately suggested the full-back was onside however but with play already stopped, VAR was unable to intervene.
Bayern were enraged with the decision with Thomas Tuchel describing it as a ‘disastrous betrayal’. De Ligt himself later revealed match referee Szymon Marciniak approached him to apologise after the game.
‘The linesman said to me I’m sorry, I made a mistake, I can’t buy anything for that,’ he said.
‘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.’
De Ligt was not in a forgiving mood, nor was Bayern’s director of sport Max Eberl, insisting the club ‘do not give a s**t’ about any regrets from the match officials.
‘He blew the whistle, so no video assistant can intervene because it was in front of the goal,’ Eberl said. ‘The referee said it was his mistake. We can’t give a shit about that.’
He continued: ‘Logically, that’s a mistake. We don’t need the football rules, we know exactly what is going on.
‘And if a situation hasn’t been played yet, it will be played and played then it will be checked.” Accordingly, I will keep my fingers crossed for BVB in the final.’
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