Carlo Ancelotti shrugged and called it “something magical, without much explanation”, after Real Madrid scored two goals in two and a half minutes to complete another astonishing Champions League comeback.
But Thomas Tuchel insisted that there was a more tangible reason for a dramatic defeat at the Bernabéu: a “very unusual” individual error from his goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and a refereeing mistake that denied his Bayern Munich team a 103rd-minute equaliser and felt like a “betrayal”.
Matthijs de Ligt scored but the linesman’s flag had already gone up and the referee, Szymon Marciniak, had blown his whistle before the ball had hit the net for an offside against Noussair Mazraoui, a decision Tuchel called “disastrous”.
“The linesman said sorry but that does not help,” the Bayern Munich manager said. “There are two mistakes. The first big mistake is from the linesman. He raised his flag straight away; to raise your flag in a situation like this, you have to be very, very sure it’s offside. To have the guts, the balls, to raise the flag like this is a huge, huge call, and it is the wrong call. We got the shot away within five seconds [of the flag] and the referee has the chance not to whistle, but he whistles. It is against every rule.”
Tuchel added: “We accept that we lost, it is what it is, but it should not have happened. It would not have happened at the other end. It is tough to swallow. I am really angry. If anyone did not deserve that it’s Manuel.”
Ancelotti took a different view. “If they can complain about that we can complain about the goal Nacho had disallowed,” he said, referring to a referral by the video assistant referee that ruled out an almost immediate equaliser after Bayern had taken the lead, for a push. “It happened again: it has happened other times and it’s inexplicable. It’s something magical. We played well, we had chances, and then we had the strength not to lose our heads when they scored. We have completed a season that few expected.”
Jude Bellingham, who will now face his old club Borussia Dortmund in the final, said: “I don’t think Joselu will be sleeping much tonight, he’ll be useless in training tomorrow! He deserves it all, he’s been an amazing member of the squad all season and it’s his night.”
