Real Madrid star Toni Kroos admitted that the controversial decision of the referee of his team’s match against Bayern Munich in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals contributed to the Royal Club’s superiority and passage to the final match.
Referee Simon Marciniak blew his whistle early, declaring that Bayern Munich was offside, while Matthijs de Ligt then succeeded in scoring a goal that would have led the match to extra time after confirming his validity.
Kroos commented on this in media statements, “It is poor management of the match. The referee should have allowed the game to continue. I think the error was primarily from the flag referee.”
He also added, “If the assistant referee raises his flag, the referee assumes that his assistant sees that the offside is completely clear and is confident that there was an offside of three meters, for example.”
He continued, “It is understandable to me that Bayern Munich is angry. We had to see what would happen in the entire situation and not blow the whistle early.”
He concluded, “I don’t know if the Real Madrid players would have blocked the ball or not because the referee blew the whistle early, but you could see that the defenders were less nervous with the whistle.”
Real Madrid will face another German club in the final, Borussia Dortmund, on Saturday, June 1, 2024, at Wembley Stadium, in search of the Merengue’s historic fifteenth title.
