Thomas Tuchel claims ‘betrayal’ after controversial moment in semi-final

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Thomas Tuchel said that the assistant referee who lifted his flag too soon, and may have stopped Bayern Munich from getting a goal that could have tied the game, apologized to him. This happened during the Champions League semi-final when they were defeated by Real Madrid.

Madrid's hosts have achieved an impressive last-minute victory at the Bernabeu stadium. They were able to come back after Bayern had taken the lead with a goal from Alphonso Davies. The substitute player Joselu made a notable contribution, coming off the bench and helping to turn the game around in the final moments.

However, during the last moments of the additional time, Bayern managed to score yet another goal. Matthijs de Ligt launched a powerful shot from within Real Madrid's box after receiving a long pass into the penalty area.

The aim was swiftly dismissed due to the assistant referee signaling it and the whistle blowing a few moments before De Ligt took his shot. Both Noussair Mazraoui and De Ligt were deemed offside, but upon review, it appeared to be a narrow decision.

Tuchel was extremely angry that the offside signal wasn't postponed so that the attacking play could continue, as is the usual procedure in the era of VAR. Although VAR was incapable of intervening and granting the goal once the flag went up, since the play had already ended.

Tuchel expressed his disappointment with the decisions made by the linesman and referee (Szymon Marciniak from Poland). He felt that it was a letdown and all the hard work put into the match felt wasted. Despite a great effort by the team, they ultimately fell short. Tuchel graciously congratulated Real Madrid on their victory.

The linesman apologizes but it doesn't make things better. It's not right to raise the flag at a critical moment like this. The referee notices that we retrieve the ball and take a shot - this is an extremely unfair call. It goes against the regulations and it's a complete catastrophe. It is difficult to accept, but unfortunately, that's just the way it is.

Andriy Lunin, who plays goalkeeper for Real Madrid, appeared to pause before De Ligt took his shot because he had already heard the offside flag.

Tuchel stood up for his decision to substitute Harry Kane in the 85th minute when Bayern had only managed to score one goal. He clarified that Kane had "back problems", making it tough for him to continue playing.

This season, Kane has been the top scorer for Bayern. He scored a total of 44 goals out of 45 games in his first season playing for the German club. Out of these, eight came from the Champions League. Despite his impressive performance, Kane was later replaced by Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who has managed to score three goals in different matches this season.

It looked like the game might go into extra time, but then Joselu scored his second goal in the 92nd minute and Madrid secured their spot in the final. Joselu's first goal happened because of a mistake by Bayern's star goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer, who had been playing really well up until that point.

Tuchel informed TNT Sports that he was obliged to substitute his forwards and expressed that Bayern had a glimpse of hope before Madrid's last-minute turnaround.

It's always uncertain playing against Real Madrid in their hometown. Maybe if we had been more precise or relaxed in their section of the field. We kicked off with a quartet of attackers, but all four of them ended up having injuries or getting muscle cramps.

Well, the reason why the 88th minute is crucial is that you can sense the game coming to a close. Was our performance top-notch? It wasn't. However, striving towards perfection wasn't necessary, all we had to do was perform sufficiently well in that particular instance.