“I’m Sorry,” Matthijs de Ligt said the linesman apologized for his “mistake” after Bayern’s late equalizer was denied by an offside flag

The linesman apologized to Matthijs de Ligt, a defender for Bayern Munich, for raising the flag for offside just before he scored what would have been a late equalizer in Wednesday’s Champions League quarterfinal matchup against Real Madrid.

The game at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium would have likely gone into extra time if De Ligt had scored late into stoppage time, making the score 2-2. However, the action was not finished because the referee signaled an offside before the goal could be scored.

The linesman apologized to me, saying, “I made a mistake.” De Ligt said during the 2-1 defeat, in which Joselu of Madrid scored the game’s winning goal in stoppage time after a VAR intervention reversed an earlier offside ruling. In that particular case, however, the other linesman let the action go on.

“You have to continue playing if it’s not clearly offside, according to the rule,” stated De Ligt. Furthermore, I believe it would be a grave error to go to the last minute and whistle in this manner. I’m not sure whether it’s offside or not; the VAR can verify it, but how can you know if you don’t examine it? That’s unfortunate.

In the 71st minute, the VAR was used once again to prevent a goal for Madrid due to a foul committed by defender Nacho Fernández on Joshua Kimmich. In the 88th minute, Joselu equalized after a mistake made by goalie Manuel Neuer.

With the win, Madrid advanced to the London final on June 1st, where they will face Borussia Dortmund.

The whistle was sounded before the De Ligt goal, and Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti claimed that his defenders halted.

He said, “The final play is clear, the referee blows the whistle, and we stop.” “This referee is excellent; he officiated a World Cup final.” They gripe about this, and we gripe about Nacho’s goal being disallowed. Kimmich plunged to the ground.

Szymon Marciniak refereed the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France in Qatar as the match referee.

It was a “disastrous decision from the linesman and from the referee,” according to Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel.

Because of that choice, “it feels almost like a betrayal in the end,” he said. “The linesman apologized. That is not beneficial.

“To raise the flag in a situation like this, when the referee and I are both involved in a tight judgment at the last minute… It’s not required for the referee to whistle,” Tuchel said. He witnessed our victory over the second ball and our successful shot. Whistling is a very, very poor choice. It’s against the law and a poor choice made by them both.