“It’s mismanagement” – Toni Kroos admits Real Madrid benefitted from refereeing error against Bayern Munich | OneFootball

Real Madrid’s 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich last Wednesday, which secured their place in the Champions League final with a 4-3 aggregate win, was a euphoric occasion, but it was also clouded with controversy. The visitors thought they had taken the tie to extra time when Matthijs de Ligt scored in the 103rd minute, but the game had already been stopped for an apparent offside.

Because the game had already been called dead, VAR were not able to intervene in the matter, which infuriated Bayern. Real Madrid were non-plussed, although midfielder Toni Kroos has admitted that the officials got that decision wrong, as he said during his Einfach mal Luppen podcast (via MD).

“It’s mismanagement. You have to let the game continue. I think the mistake is mostly the linesman’s. If he raises the flag now, the referee assumes that his linesman sees it exactly like that and trusts that there was probably a three-metre offside.

“The anger is justified because you have to face the situation until the end, 100%. I don’t know if there was a collective shutdown (from us) because the whistle was heard very early.”

We will never know if the goal would have stood if play was allowed to go on, but Real Madrid aren’t concerned about that anyway – they have a Champions League final to look forward to in 17 days’ time.