An explanation for the controversial decision not to award Bayern Munich a penalty for handball against Paris Saint-Germain has come to light. Bayern found themselves 1-0 down on the night and two goals adrift on aggregate after 30 minutes of Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg in Germany.
But Vincent Kompany's side thought they had been given a lifeline when a clearance from Vitinha hit the outstretched arm of teammate Joao Neves, who was ducking out of the way. Bayern's players and staff instantly appealed, only for Portuguese referee Joao Pinheiro to wave play on. VAR also did not intervene, leaving the hosts furious. However, the decision appears to have been correct.
The laws of the game state that there is an exemption to the handball rule when the ball is kicked at a player by a teammate, even if, as in Neves' case, the arm is away from the body. The exemption can be overridden if the handball is deliberate, but Neves' was deemed not to be, as the ball hit him unexpectedly.
Harry Kane, who would have taken the resulting penalty, was visibly angry and demanded an explanation from the referee. Minutes before the controversy, there was another flashpoint. PSG left-back Nuno Mendes avoided a second yellow card for his handball. Pinheiro had blown his whistle before appearing to get advice from his fourth official, and he decided that Konrad Laimer had also handled the ball in the build-up, cancelling out Mendes' infringement.
Post-match, Kompany labelled the officiating in both legs 'ridiculous'. "We have to look at some of the phases that were decided by the officials across the two games which… it's never an excuse for everything but it matters," the Bayern manager bemoaned. "If we look at both legs, probably too much went against us. The guys gave everything and we tried against a fantastic PSG team."
"[Neves'] hand is in the air, it hits it. Because it's from his own teammate it's not a penalty. But if you look at both situations, a little bit of common sense and it's just ridiculous. Whatever needs to happen but it's ridiculous. It doesn't tell the whole game but it's a one-goal game in the end."
Meanwhile, Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen suggested that Pinheiro lacked the requisite experience to take charge of the second leg, which finished 1-1 after Kane's late equaliser. "It's astonishing, to say the least, that a referee with only 15 Champions League appearances is allowed to take charge of such a match," Dreesen told Sky Germany. "And that perhaps also explains some of the decisions."
