Bayern bosses & football pundits react to Gabriel penalty incident in UCL

The German side was held to a 2-2 draw against Arsenal in the Champions League

Following the exciting Champions League quarterfinal at the Emirates, when Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes seemed to pick up the ball in the box, Bayern Munich head coach Thomas Tuchel criticised the official of lacking the “courage” to award his team a penalty for a “kid’s mistake”.

The strange incident happened in the 67th minute of play, with Bayern leading 2-1 after David Raya gave Gabriel an instant goal kick. Unaware that the ball was already in play, the defender moved it to the six-yard line so he could take the goal kick from a different spot.

Harry Kane and the other players from Bayern instantly argued to Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg that the ball was in play and that Gabriel had, therefore, technically committed a handball in the box.

Both Bayern’s and the TV commentators’ initial disregard for the situation meant that many people were unaware of what occurred until Tuchel talked with the broadcasters following full-time.The former Chelsea coach stated that the referee informed him that he had seen Gabriel handle the ball during live play and acknowledged that it should have been a penalty. However, he suggested that the match’s importance and error prevented him from awarding a penalty.

“I think the referee did not have the courage to give a deserved penalty today in a bit of a crazy and awkward situation,” Tuchel told TNT Sports afterwards.

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“He admitted on the pitch that he saw the situation and that quarter-final is not enough for him to give a penalty, for a kid’s mistake. He admitted he saw the mistake the player made.

“It was a goal kick, the goalkeeper passed to a central defender and one touched the ball with the hand because he thought it was not in game but it was in game and the referee admitted it was in game and was handball. Very frustrating.”

Thomas Müller on the penalty not given to Bayern: “The referee blows the whistle, the goalkeeper plays the ball and a player takes the ball with his hand. According to the rules, this is handball in the penalty area and a clear penalty. I can understand the referee’s arguments that it was a kid’s mistake. He doesn’t want to decide the game through such a strange situation. But he did he have an influence on the game with this decision – it is always better to follow the rules.

The referee saw it clearly. The mistake was just too stupid for him to award a penalty. But it’s not his decision to make. The referee is there to enforce the rules. Even if you may not be satisfied with the rule. I don’t think the rule says: OK, if it wasn’t intentional, pick up the ball and put it down again for a goal kick… I don’t know what it says. I think it’s a clear penalty.”

Rio Ferdinand: ‘Oh my gosh, how can that not be given!?’

Max Eberl: “So the referee blows his whistle, the goalkeeper passes the ball to the defender, who takes it with his hand, that’s a penalty,” said Bayern’s board member for sport.

“And then the referee’s statement, well, he said I can’t give such a penalty in the quarter-finals. Excuse me. It’s not my fault, it’s not our fault,” added Eberl.

“The referee said I can’t give such a penalty in the quarter-finals. Excuse me. It’s not my fault, it’s not our fault”.

Eric Dier was not happy with refereeing HOWLER in the Arsenal vs Bayern game “We should have had a PENALTY!”

We should have gotten a clear penalty when the referee blew his whistle,’ Kane vented. ‘The goalkeeper passed the ball and Gabriel took it into his hands. That’s the clearest penalty I’ve ever seen.’

Martin Keown labelled it ‘absolutely indefensible’, adding: ‘The referee is maybe a little bit out of his depth.

We thought he had a decent game, but there’s key moments in the game there both teams can look at.’

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher also made his feelings clear on penalty incident and said:

This is spot on from Christina Unkel the referee used common sense. There was no advantage gained by Arsenal, it’s just a mix up over who was taking the goal kick with no Munich player near the incident.You’d be sick if that went against you, especially in a CL quarter final.

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