Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich: How a Referee Can Ruin a Fantastic Tie
By Ben Sundock
There have been more than a few fans, critics, and other football officials who have criticized the work of the Hungarian referee team in yesterday’s Champions League quarterfinal second leg between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Despite two fantastic matches between two of Europe’s biggest and best clubs, the officials have taken the spotlight, leading fans to ignore the quality of the two legs between Real and Bayern and discuss the poor calls made. Ben Sundock tells you about how the referees in both legs of the quarterfinal ruined a great tie.
Let’s be honest, the ref is almost never your friend. Well, unless you’re a Real Madrid player or fan after yesterday’s match.
As an avid Real Madrid fan, follower, and blogger, I am fully aware that the officiating in yesterday’s match (as well as the first leg in Munich last week) were simply terrible. Terrible isn’t a harsh enough word to use in this scenario, but terrible seems about the worst I can write here on Fansided.
The match has drawn serious intrigue, with sites calling in former and current referees to make judgement on the calls from the tie, and as Squawka proves, there were several incorrect calls made over the two legs.
Let’s take a look at the biggest calls made in the two ties that are drawing a lot of the attention:
Dani Carvajal’s Handball in the Box (First Leg)
The picture here nearly shows you everything you need to know about the play. A shot from outside the box taken by Franck Ribéry is blocked by Carvajal, but as you can see from the video, the ball clearly strikes the full back’s right shoulder, as he moves his arm behind his back to avoid a handball!
Not only is this not a handball worthy of a penalty for Bayern, but it’s not a worthy yellow card either. The head referee, Riccardo Di Fiore, is not the same referee who called yesterday’s match in Madrid, yet the problem of bad calls overlapped between the two legs.
Despite Arturo Vidal missing the ensuing penalty over the top of the goal, this could have easily been Real Madrid’s end game, in less than 45 minutes into the first leg of the match.