Bayern Munich board member for sport Max Eberl has criticised referee João Pinheiro after Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Paris Saint-Germain, which saw the German champions eliminated from the Champions League 6-5 on aggregate.
He credited PSG for playing an “outstanding match”, but felt multiple controversial decisions by the referee also had an impact.
“We may have made one or two wrong decisions – someone else on the pitch may also have made one or two wrong decisions. Those are the details that ultimately decide a semifinal like this in total,” Eberl said in the mixed zone after the game.
He was particularly frustrated with two calls in the first half, the first being the decision not to show Nuno Mendes a second yellow card for handball, as Konrad Laimer was adjudged to have handled the ball just before.
Eberl felt the Portuguese referee was noticeably communicative with his compatriots from Paris Saint-Germain, while he himself was left without a clear explanation.
“He spoke with the Portuguese players, whom he always accompanied to the corner kicks as well. Maybe he explained something to them there; he didn’t explain it to me.”
“For me, you can give a second yellow card there, and then suddenly it goes the other way. I think that surprised everyone. I didn’t see the handball involving ‘Konny’; the other one was relatively clear,” he said.
Eberl described the incident where PSG’s Vitinha kicked the ball onto the arm of teammate João Neves inside the penalty area as “strange”, arguing that many other referees would have awarded Bayern a penalty in that situation.
“One half says it’s a clear penalty, the other half says everything was done correctly. So what is the rule now? Nobody has been able to explain that to me so far! From my point of view, it’s a handball in the penalty area.”