📺 Bayern furious: no red, no penalty! CEO: referee not up to it 🤬

🤯 Laimer’s BLAST at the 4th official

Konrad Laimer spoke with great bitterness about the refereeing incidents, focusing above all on the action that could have led to a second yellow for Nuno Mendes.

The Austrian said he was convinced he had touched the ball with his chest and not his arm before Mendes’ handball:

“On the pitch, I didn’t get that feeling. I thought I had played the ball with my chest, then Mendes touched it with his hand. Five seconds later the referee gave a handball against me. It’s really strange.”

Laimer was especially surprised that the signal came from the fourth official:

“Since when does the fourth official intervene in these kinds of situations? It had never happened to me before. That incident could have changed the match, with PSG down to 10 men early on.”

🔍 Vitinha handball, was it a PENALTY?

The second disputed incident involved João Neves, who was struck on the arm by the ball inside the PSG box after a clearance by Vitinha.

In this case, the decision to let play continue seemed correct both to the referee and to the VAR, led by Italian official Marco Di Bello.

📖 What do the RULES say?

Bayern Munich strongly protested João Neves’ handball inside the PSG penalty area. The incident caused debate especially because in the first leg Alphonso Davies had been punished with a penalty for a similar case.

In this case, however, referee João Pinheiro waved play on and the VAR did not intervene. Under the current interpretation of the rules, the decision is correct because the ball came directly from teammate Vitinha’s clearance.

In these situations, there is a sort of “exemption” for handball, unless the action is clearly deliberate or unnatural.

🧨 Bayern CEO vs referee: "Surprising!"

Strong words from Bayern Munich CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen after the Champions League semi-final against PSG.

The Bayern executive openly criticized the appointment of referee João Pinheiro, who was officiating his first Champions League semi-final:

“It is, to say the least, surprising that a referee with just 15 Champions League matches can officiate a game like this. And perhaps that also explains some of the refereeing decisions.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.