Tuchel rages over ‘handball’
Bayern coach slams ‘horrible’ decision to deny side penalty Bizarre Gabriel action is ruled a ‘kid’s mistake’ by referee
Thomas Tuchel, the Bayern Munich head coach, last night raged against a “horrible, horrible” decision to deny his team a bizarre penalty in their thrilling draw with Arsenal.
Tuchel and his Bayern players were furious they were not awarded a second-half penalty when Gabriel Magalhaes, the Arsenal centre-back, picked up the ball after the whistle had been blown and a goal-kick had been taken towards him.
Bayern’s players claimed that Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg told them he could not award a penalty for a “kid’s mistake” in a match as important as a Champions League quarter-final.
“For me, for all of us, he made a huge mistake not giving the handball penalty,” said Tuchel. “I know it is a crazy situation but they put the ball down, he whistles, he gives the ball and the defender takes the ball in his hand.
“What makes us really angry is the explanation on the field. He told our players that it is a ‘kid’s mistake’ and he will not give a penalty like this in a quarter-final. This is a horrible, horrible explanation. He is judging handballs. Kid’s mistake, adult’s mistake. Whatever. We feel angry because it is a huge decision against us.”
The extraordinary situation was just one of a series of controversies that arose during a fascinating draw at the Emirates Stadium, where England team-mates Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka scored for their respective sides.
Saka was furious not to be awarded a penalty of his own in stoppage time, after he collided with Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, while Kane escaped a red card for an elbow that caught Gabriel in the face in the second half.
Leandro Trossard, the scorer of Arsenal’s second goal, said it “looked like a penalty” for Saka, who was visibly angry at the final whistle and approached the referee before heading down the tunnel.
The decision prompted a debate among television pundits, with opinions split on whether Saka had initiated contact with the keeper.
Martin Keown, the former Arsenal defender, said on TNT Sports: “Neuer is actually going towards that ball, he comes out and makes the challenge. For me that’s a penalty, all day long.”
And former England defender
Fortune favours the brave. And the lucky. Or so Arsenal will hope. With the first leg of this Champions League quarter-final, and maybe the tie itself, drifting away – and with Harry Kane coming back to haunt them as they feared he would – Mikel Arteta decided to go for it.
His team had created nothing in the second half, having naively surrendered an early lead, with uncharacteristic calamitous mistakes from their centre-halves, so the Arsenal manager rolled the dice.
At 2-1 down he risked a heavier defeat and maybe effectively going out of the competition but, instead, was rewarded with an equaliser as Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard, his two attacking substitutes, combined, with the latter scoring.
Trossard is earning something of a reputation as a super-sub and although it is a role he will not want to embrace, it enhances his value as he left matters so finely balanced ahead of next Wednesday’s return in Munich.
If that was the brave then there was also the fortune. In fact there was so much to debate, so many points of contention, after a humdinger of a game on Arsenal’s return to this stage of the Champions League for the first time in 14 years.
The biggest of all? A strange, unfathomable one as Gabriel Magalhaes should have conceded a second penalty as he picked the ball up inside his own area after David Raya played a goal-kick to him. Bayern protested to Swedish referee
Glenn Nyberg who – astonishingly – said he could not give it because it was a “childish mistake” with Gabriel believing the kick had not been taken. Wow. That was some let-off.
In that context Arsenal’s claims that Kane should have been sent off, rather than booked, after appearing to catch Gabriel in the throat with his elbow and their demands for a penalty of their own when Bukayo Saka collided with Manuel Neuer in injury time can be brushed aside. They got away with one.
So where does this result leaves the tie? The obvious answer is evenly poised, especially as away goals are no longer factored into European competition.
In a sense, despite the penalty argument, Bayern will be the happier as they return to the Allianz Arena knowing they only need a win to proceed to the last four even if they will rue their own substitute, Kingsley Coman, stabbing a closerange chance against a post in the 89th minute.
But given their pedigree and history in this competition, despite their wretched domestic form, they are the favourites and it would still be some achievement for Arsenal to go through at the intimidating home of the six-time winners.
And yet Arsenal will not be beating themselves up. They salvaged a draw, there is everything to play for and they can certainly perform better than this while their away record is impressive. The question is whether they have the character to see this through.
What they must also ward against is Kane. The England captain scored from the penalty spot and, in his first season at Bayern, it was his 39th goal in 38 games. It is an astonishing, if not unexpected, return. It was also his 15th in just 20 games against Arsenal.
How the former Tottenham hero loves to face them with six of those goals scored at the Emirates – more than any other opposition player since the stadium opened in 2006.
And as vulnerable as Bayern are, they still have a dangerous front four and as much as Arsenal saved themselves with their changes, so the Germans were damaged as Leroy Sane and their other goalscorer, Serge Gnabry – the former Arsenal winger – went off as they return from injury.
And yet those Bayern goals. And yet Kane. Arsenal had gone into the lead with Saka scoring imperiously, arcing a shot around Eric Dier as the former Spurs defender backed off.
They were in front and had conceded just two goals in their past 10 games – but then gave away two in 14 chaotic minutes. What made it more shocking was the culpability of Gabriel and William Saliba.
There was little danger as Gabriel had the ball but what was he doing as he passed it waywardly towards Jakub Kiwior? Also what was David Raya doing as he was way out of goal? Sane intervened, Leon Goretzka cleverly picked out Gnabry and he slid the ball home.
There was silence in the stadium because there were no Bayern fans as they had been banned after setting off pyrotechnics in previous away games.
It got worse when Sane ran from halfway, evading tackles, only to be tripped by Saliba. It was undoubtedly a penalty. Who would take it? Kane, of course. The boos rang out but to no effect. Raya dived to his right; Kane rolled the ball to his left and Bayern were ahead.
But Arsenal rallied. Trossard swept in Jesus’s lay-off. The tie is in the balance as Arsenal showed enough spirit – and Arteta enough tactical acumen – to give them hope after they rode their luck.
Arsenal (4-3-3) Raya 5; White 6, Saliba 6, Gabriel 7, Kiwior 5 (Zinchenko 45); Odegaard 8, Jorginho 6 (Jesus 67), Rice 7; Saka 7, Havertz 7 (Partey 86), Martinelli 6 (Trossard 66).
Subs Ramsdale (g), Hein (g), Smith Rowe, Nketiah, Tomiyasu, Vieira, Nelson, Elneny. Booked Partey.
Bayern Munich (4-2-3-1) Neuer 7; Kimmich 6, De Ligt 8, Dier 6, Davies 6; Goretzka 7, Laimer 6; Sane 9 (Coman 66), Musiala 6, Gnabry 7 (Guerreiro 67); Kane 8. Subs Peretz (g), Ulreich (g), Upamecano, Kim, Choupo-moting, Zaragoza, Muller, Tel, Mazraoui, Pavlovic. Booked Davies, Kane. Referee Glenn Nyberg (Sweden). Att 60,221.