Sports Weekly full media reporter Xiaozhong reports
On May 6, in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, Bayern Munich played at home and tied with Paris Saint-Germain 1-1. In the end, it lost with a total score of 5-6. Paris Saint-Germain successfully advanced to the UEFA Champions League final for the second consecutive year.
In this Champions League semi-final held at the Allianz Arena, the referee was Portugal's Joao Pinheiro, and the two linesmen Bruno Jesus and Luciano Maia are also Portuguese. In that event, the fourth referee was Espen Eskas of Norway, the video assistant referee or VAR was Marco Di Bello of Italy, and the assistant video assistant referee or AVAR was Thiago Martins of Portugal.
Joao Pinheiro's penalty caused controversy.
In Bayern's lineup, there are two players from Portugal. One of them is the 32-year-old left back Rafael Guerrero, and the other is the 19-year-old defensive midfielder David Diaber.
Rafael Guerrero was born in France, his father was a Portuguese immigrant and his mother was French. Rafael Guerrero has dual nationality of France and Portugal, but in the end he chose to play for the Portuguese national team, even though he could not even speak Portuguese at first.
David Daiber, who was born in Luxembourg, came to this world on January 10, 2007. However, when he was still young, he moved to Germany with his parents. At first, David Daiber played at the Milbert Scheffen Club (TSV) in the northern suburbs of Munich. Milbertshofen) began to practice football. In 2016, when he was 9 years old, he entered the Bayern youth team. David Daibo has German and Portuguese nationalities. Like Rafael Guerrero, he also chose to play for the Portuguese team. In 2024, the Portuguese U17 national team won the U17 European Cup runner-up, and David Daibo was the substitute midfielder in the team.
For Rafael Guerrero, he has never played in a Portuguese football team at the club level, and the same is true for David Diabo. Therefore, the Portuguese people lack in-depth understanding and familiarity with the two people, resulting in an alienated relationship.
David Deborah
On the other hand, Paris Saint-Germain has a left-back named Nuno Mendes, midfielder Vitinha, Joao Neves, and forward Gonzalo Ramos, all four of whom are Portuguese players. These four people are all native Portuguese. They all grew up in Portugal before going to Paris. Therefore, the Portuguese are closer to them.
There was a game on May 6. On Bayern's side, Rafael Guerrero entered the game roster, but did not play, and David Daibo did not even enter the game roster; on the Paris side, Nuno Mendes, Vitinha and Joao Neves all started. Nuno Mendes was substituted in the 85th minute. The other two played the full 90 minutes. Gonzalo Ramos entered the game roster, but did not get a chance to play.
There were two controversial situations regarding penalties in the game. In the 29th minute, Bayern's No. 27 Austrian right-back Konrad Laimer made a strong breakthrough with the ball on the right side of the frontcourt. Nuno Mendes, who was guarding him, was suspected of handball. However, the Portuguese left-back quickly informed the referee that Pier The ball did not hit his arm, but his armpit. However, the Bayern players felt that Nuno Mendes had handled the ball, so they walked forward and protested to the referee, asking him to show the card. In the 8th minute, Nuno Mendes had already received a yellow card. If he received another card, he would be sent off.
Joao Pinheiro did not give Nuno Mendes a card, but signaled Bayern to take a free kick. He probably believed Nuno Mendes' statement and felt that the ball hit Nuno Mendes' armpit, so it was not a penalty kick. However, after communicating with the fourth referee, Joao Pinheiro changed the decision and ruled that Konrad Laimer had committed a handball earlier. Regarding Joao Pinheiro's decision, Bayern's senior management and players, including coach Kompany, were extremely dissatisfied.
Looking at the game video, you can see that at that time, Konrad Laimer kicked the ball and the ball bounced up. Nuno Mendes moved his right arm and the ball hit Nuno Mendes' right armpit and the inside of his right forearm near the armpit. Although he was passively hit by the ball, his forearm did block the ball.
In the 31st minute, another controversial penalty situation emerged. At that time, Bayern implemented a half-pass and half-shooting action on the left side of the frontcourt, and the Paris goalkeeper saved the ball. On the right side of the penalty area, Vitinha got the ball in the direction of the goal, then half-turned and vigorously made a clearance. However, the ball hit the right arm of teammate Joao Neves in the penalty area. Bayern players asked for a penalty kick, but the Portuguese referee Joao Pinheiro still did not give it. Bayern's soldiers were very angry.
After the game, Konrad Laimer said: "I can also say that I did not touch the ball 100% with my hands, but sometimes you can't feel it like this. During the game, I noticed that his (Nuno Mendes) body touched the ball and the ball passed him. It was obvious that he touched the ball with his hand. This is most likely an obvious yellow card. Quite a few. It’s bitter, because the decisions were not on our side. In my opinion, it was very strange that the referee blew the whistle five seconds after he used his hand to intercept my attack, but it has happened like this and it has been decided like this. Now, it is not my problem. I can’t change anything.”
After the game, Bayern's former midfielder Ballack was extremely dissatisfied with Joao Pinheiro's failure to award a penalty kick to Bayern, claiming it was a scandal.
Ballack said, "That was a situation that caused the game to change." In this case, "it was the first time that the fourth referee did not intervene." This is my impression as a spectator. Sometimes you look for certain situations to avoid the game from changing to one side or another. I have no intention of accusing the referee of anything. However, in that situation, he made such a decision for no reason.
Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen also criticized the referee after the game. He said that at the very least, it was surprising that a referee with only 15 Champions League games of refereeing experience would officiate such a game, which can also explain some of the decisions in the game.
Max Eberl, the sports manager of Bayern Munich, said that Joao Pinheiro communicated with his compatriots in Portugal. Every time they had to take a penalty kick, they always followed him closely. He might have revealed some tricks to them, but he did not explain it clearly to me. And it will happen that someone makes one or two wrong decisions on the field. It is precisely these subtleties that determine the final result in a semi-final. As for the penalty kick, I saw many people saying that it should be awarded as a penalty kick, and some people said that there is nothing wrong with not deciding, but no one could explain to me clearly why. In my opinion, that is handball in the penalty area.
At the post-match press conference, Bayern coach Kompany also criticized Portuguese referee Joao Pinheiro. First, he felt that Nuno Mendes should receive a second yellow card. He said: "I don't like to talk about referees, but the whole world saw it tonight. I am proud of my players. Fighting for every ball, fighting for every fight, fighting every moment, but football at this level is determined by details, and tonight, the details were not good for us. In my opinion, it is really difficult to understand why it was not the second yellow card. Everyone on the pitch expected the referee to make that decision.” If rules are rules, they should be applied equally. "
Joao Neves had a handball but was not awarded a penalty. Kompany was even more dissatisfied with this. He said that the ball obviously hit his hand. In such a game, a decision changed everything. Bayern should have won the penalty. The reporter at the scene asked if Bayern was Being "robbed", Kompany responded, I will choose my words carefully, but I think my players will leave the field feeling extremely frustrated, quite frustrated, because they gave their all, but at the most critical moment, it lacked fairness.
Regarding whether Nuno Mendes should receive a second yellow card, the Portuguese media did not respond. However, as to why Joao Neves' handball should not be awarded a penalty kick, Portuguese sports media "A Bola" gave an explanation and quoted the rules of the International Football Association Board (IFAB).
The paper was titled "Why Joao Neves had a handball but Joao Pinheiro couldn't award a penalty?" " is an article published by Portugal's "Global News". The newspaper stated that according to the rules set by the International Football Association Board, some balls can constitute penalty kicks, but other balls do not meet the conditions for penalty kicks.
What is not a handball foul in football?
When a player touches the ball over their head, kicks it with their feet, or uses any other part of their body to touch the ball, and the ball then hits their hand or arm, it is not a handball foul unless the ball goes directly into the opponent's goal, or another player scores immediately after the ball hits their hand or arm.
While the player is on the ground, the ball strikes his supporting arm and that arm is between his body and the ground, unless the ball goes directly into the opponent's goal or another player scores immediately afterwards, in which case a direct free kick shall be awarded to the other team.
The ball hits a player's hand or arm, but is kicked or headed by a teammate, unless the ball goes directly into the opponent's goal, otherwise it does not go directly into the goal, or another player scores immediately after the ball is hit. If this occurs, a direct free kick shall be awarded to the other team.
When a handball foul occurs within the offending player's own penalty area, the handball will be punished as a direct free kick or a penalty kick.
Therefore, Portugal's "Global News" said that Joao Neves did handball, but the ball originated from one of his teammates, so that action was not considered a foul. Therefore, the Portuguese referee Joao Pinheiro's penalty was correct, and he had no problem not giving Bayern a penalty kick.