Champions League: Joselu onside for Madrid’s second as Tuchel blasts officials over de Ligt’s disallowed ‘goal’

Real Madrid turned around their Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich in the most dramatic fashion possible, with VAR allowing Joselu’s second goal of the game, which proved to be the winner after referee Szymon Marciniak had initially ruled it out for offside.

Moments after he had capitalised on a mistake from Manuel Neuer to level the match, Joselu was all alone in the middle of the box to convert Antonio Rüdiger’s square pass as the game entered injury-time.

The flag immediately went up and the goal was disallowed, but it quickly became apparent from replays that the Madrid striker was not, in fact, in an offside position.

Although Joselu was ahead of the Bayern defence, he crucially wasn’t ahead of the ball as Rüdiger crossed into the middle.

Players can only be judged offside from a forward pass, which meant no offence had been committed.

 After a 2-2 draw in the first leg in Munich, Madrid looked to be in trouble after Alphonso Davies’ stunning strike midway through the second half. However, Joselu’s late double set the Spaniards up for a Wembley final against Borussia Dortmund on 1 June.

Elsewhere, Bayern were left apoplectic with rage just before the full-time whistle, as Matthijs de Ligt had the ball in the back of the net in the 103rd minute. However, the ball had already been stopped after the linesman indicated that Noussair Mazraoui was offside the build-up. The decision could not be referred to VAR, as the game was called dead before de Ligt fired past Andriy Lunin.

The protocol in these situations is usually that play is allowed to continue, especially when the offside is tight – as it was here. It means that we will not be able to tell whether Bayern’s goal should have stood.

Bayern head coach Thomas Tuchel was furious at that moment, and he made his feelings clear to DAZN Germany.

 “I think it’s an absolute disaster. With Real Madrid’s second goal, they let the play continue. The clear rule is that the game must continue. The first mistake was made by the linesman, and the second by the referee. It was a clear violation of the rules.”

During a further interview with Movistar, Tuchel firmly pointed the blame in the refereeing team’s direction, and he also appeared to hint at the pressure from Real Madrid and the Santiago Bernabeu crowd playing a part in their decision-making.