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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
David Irvine

Celtic vs Bayern penalty incident branded 'stomp' as ex-refs reject UEFA explanation

UEFA's explanation of the decision not to award Celtic a penalty against Bayern Munich has been thrown out by former top-level referees.

The governing body intimated that referee Jesus Gil Manzano did not point to the spot due to the ball being played in a "fair manner" before contact.

Replays showed Bayern stopper Dayot Upamecano touch the ball before standing on Arne Engels' foot inside the box.

Play was halted after VAR official Carlos del Cerro Grande called for a review of the incident. But Manzano refused to change his on-field call.

Now, former Scottish FA refs Des Roache and Steve Conroy have stated the incident should have resulted in a penalty insisting "Stomping full on someone’s foot is not a 'football motion'".

A post on The Ref's View account read: "In our opinion, that’s a penalty. It doesn’t matter that the defender got the ball first, a foul is a foul.

"Stomping full on someone’s foot is not a “football motion”.

"We have seen similar this season being given; if it happens in midfield it is certainly a foul."


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Bayern Munich legend Michael Ballack added: "He clearly stepped on his ankle, so that's actually a foul.

"If that was in midfield it would certainly be a free kick.

"There are borderline decisions where you ask if it was a clear defensive action or was he preventing the opponent from getting to the ball?

"And that was clearly the case here for me, because he wanted to get to the ball and with this foul the defender clearly prevented him from reaching the ball.

"It doesn't matter whether it was intentional or not. It's a foul and only the assessment of the kick on his ankle is what should count.

"The referee decided that Upamecano played the ball beforehand.

"But for me, it's still a foul.

"Bayern were certainly a bit lucky in the situation. But you need that sometimes."

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