Bayern Munich sports committee member Max Eberl criticized referee Joao Pinheiro after Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Paris Saint-Germain, which saw the German champions knocked out of the Champions League 6-5 on aggregate.
He praised PSG for playing an “excellent game” but believed multiple controversial decisions by referees also had an impact.
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“We probably made one or two wrong decisions, and others on the field probably made one or two wrong decisions. Those are the details that ultimately determine a semifinal like this,” Eberl said in the mixed zone after the game.
He was particularly frustrated by two first-half penalties, the first being the decision not to show Nuno Mendes a second yellow card for handball after Conrad Laimer was previously ruled guilty of handball.
Eberl believes there was clear communication from the Portuguese referee to his PSG compatriots, while he himself was not given a clear explanation.
“He spoke to the Portuguese players and he always accompanied them on corner kicks. Maybe he explained something to them there; he didn’t explain it to me.”
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“For me, you can get a second yellow card there and then suddenly things go the other way. I think that surprised everyone. I didn’t see the handball involving ‘Connie’; the other one was relatively clear,” he said.
Eberl described the incident in which Paris Saint-Germain player Vitinha kicked the ball into the arm of teammate Joao Neves in the penalty area as “bizarre” and believed that many other referees would have awarded Bayern a penalty in this situation.
“Half the people said it was a clear penalty, the other half said everything was done correctly. So what are the rules now? No one has been able to explain that to me so far! From my point of view it was a handball in the box.”