A highly controversial incident in the dying moments of the Champions League quarter-final match that saw FC Bayern Munich’s 2-1 beating hosts Real Madrid in the first leg is now generating lots of buzz among football fans across Europe.
The incident which almost went unnoticed happened in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Bayern forward Michael Olise went down in the opposition’s penalty area after being pushed by Real’s left-back Alvaro Carreras.
However, referee Michael Oliver declined to blow his whistle for what was certainly a penalty-worthy incident, and the VAR did not intervene either. Olise complained to the referee immediately after the final whistle – and former top German referee Lutz Wagner agreed with the Frenchman that the incident was deserving of a penalty award.
“It is indeed the case that Real Madrid should not have complained about a penalty,” said Wagner in his capacity as a refereeing expert at Prime. However, he also defended Oliver due to his generally lenient approach throughout the match:
According to Wagner: “He (the referee) let a few other incidents of a similar nature go – which is why I found it consistent. So this incident fitted in with his approach, even if viewed in isolation, it is naturally open to debate.”
Also reacting to the dying minute incident, Christoph Kramer, a German former professional footballer who won the 2014 FIFA World Cup with Germany, took issue with the fact that Olise chose to take the contact as a reason to go down, rather than doing everything he could to stay on his feet and potentially score a goal:
Kramer further said: “In situations like that, I always ask myself: the striker, in this case Olise, would have been free to shoot from the five-yard box, so that’s actually a clear goal. Normally you’d do everything to stay on your feet – he goes down. He understood, given the importance of the match, that referee Oliver didn’t point to the spot. “But I would have blown the whistle.'”
Meanwhile, the match was one where Bayern broke their “quarter-century curse” against Real Madrid. The Bavarian team overcame a long-standing jinx by defeating the Spanish giants on their own ground in the UEFA Champions League.
The valuable and rare 2-1 victory over Madrid on Tuesday evening at the Santiago Bernabeu was the first time in nine (9) matches, during which Los Blancos won seven (7) times and both sides drew twice in the first leg of the continental competition’s quarter-finals.
The German side achieved their first Champions League win over Real Madrid after 9 matches, during which the Royal Club won 7 times and the two sides drew twice. The German team’s last win over their Spanish counterpart dates back to April 2012, when they also won 2-1.
Interestingly, Bayern also ended their bad luck at the Santiago Bernabeu, recording their first win at this stadium since May 1, 2001, 25 years ago, when they won 1-0.
The decisive return leg of their quarter-final encounter will be played at Bayern’s Allianz Arena next week.
