Thomas Tuchel claims assistant referee apologized for ‘betrayal’ in Champions League semi-final

Thomas Tuchel has claimed he has received an apology from the assistant referee who raised his flag early and potentially denied Bayern Munich a late equalizer in their Champions League semi-final defeat to Real Madrid.

Hosts Madrid pulled off a stunning late comeback at the Bernabeu when substitute Joselu came off the bench to turn the tie around in the final minutes after Bayern had taken the lead thanks to an Alphonso Davies goal.

But Bayern had the ball in the net again in the final seconds of stoppage time, when Matthijs de Ligt fired from inside the Real Madrid box after a long ball inside the penalty area.

The goal was quickly disallowed when the assistant referee’s flag was raised and the whistle blew a couple of seconds before De Ligt shot. Noussair Mazraoui and De Ligt were offside, but replays showed it was close.

Tuchel was furious that the offside signal had not been delayed to allow the attacking phase to develop, as is the protocol in the VAR era. However, when the flag was raised, VAR was unable to intervene and award the goal as play had already stopped.

“There was a disastrous decision by the linesman and the referee (Poland Szymon Marciniak),” Tuchel told TNT Sports. “In the end it feels like a betrayal. There was a huge fight, we left everything on the field and we were almost there. Now we say congratulations to Real Madrid.

“The linesman says sorry, but that doesn’t help. Raising the flag at a time like this… The referee sees that we received the second ball and made the shot; it’s a very, very bad decision. It’s against the rules. It’s a disaster. It’s hard to accept, but that’s how it is.”

Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin seemed to stop before De Ligt’s shot, who had already heard the offside flag.

Tuchel also defended himself by taking off Harry Kane in the 85th minute and with Bayern just one goal away, explaining that the England captain had “back problems” and could not continue.

Kane is Bayern’s top scorer this season with 44 goals from 45 goals in his debut season at the German club, including eight in the Champions League, but he was replaced by Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who has scored three goals in all competitions this season.

Extra time was still a possibility, but Joselu scored again in the 92nd minute to send Madrid to the final. Joselu’s equalizer came after a costly turnover by Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who had been the player of the match up to that point.

Tuchel told TNT Sports he had no choice but to eliminate his attackers and said Bayern saw the “end of the tunnel” before Madrid’s latest comeback.

“You are never completely sure because it is Real Madrid in Madrid. We could have been more clinical or calmer in the opposing half. We start with a front four and all four have to leave due to injury or cramp.

“Yes, because if you pass in the 88th minute you will see the end of the tunnel. Was it our best game? No. But we didn’t need to be perfect, we just needed to be good enough at this moment.”