Soccer
Vincent Kompany hit out at what he saw as a pair of “ridiculous” handball decisions that went some way to deciding Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League semi-final triumph over Bayern Munich.
The reigning European champions will face Arsenal in the final in Budapest later this month, after battling to a 6-5 aggregate triumph over the Bundesliga giants.
After being on the wrong end of a nine-goal thriller in Paris last week, Bayern were frustrated for long periods of Wednesday’s second leg in Bavaria, with Harry Kane’s late equaliser proving redundant after Ousmane Dembele extended PSG’s advantage.
But after full-time, Kompany was left to rue handball decisions in both legs, both of which went against Bayern.
At the Parc des Princes, Bayern went 3-2 down on the stroke of half-time when Dembele scored from the penalty spot, after Alphonso Davies was harshly adjudged to have handled just inside his own area.
Then, in the first half of the second leg, Bayern were denied a spot-kick of their own when Vitinha hammered a clearance into the outstretched arm of Joao Neves, with referee Joao Pinheiro and VAR Marco Di Bello not intervening due to the ball being played off Neves by a team-mate.
And to Kompany, the contrast between those two outcomes made no sense.
Speaking to TNT Sports, the former centre-back said: “I think we gave everything. It was a game of details, we’ve played five times against PSG now in the last two years – they’ve won twice, we’ve won twice and this one was a draw.
“So it’s been that sort of game every single time. But we also have to look at some of the phases which were decided by the officials across the two games.
“It’s never an excuse for everything, but it matters. If you look at both legs, probably too much went against us.
“I think on the handball situations, I get the rules. So, the very first one [on Davies in the first leg], it goes to his body first and it’s from close range, then bounces onto his hand. They said because of the trajectory of the cross, that’s why they gave a penalty.
“Then, the second one [on Neves in the second leg], the hand is high up there, but because it’s from his own team-mate, it’s not a penalty.
“But when you look at both phases with a bit of common sense, it’s just ridiculous. It doesn’t tell the story of the whole game, but it’s a one-goal game in the end.”
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Kompany also felt aggrieved about another incident in the first half of Wednesday’s match, as Nuno Mendes avoided a second yellow card despite appearing to stop Konrad Laimer’s breakaway down the right flank by handling the ball.
And the Bayern boss felt Pinheiro changed his mind about that incident after realising it would be Mendes’ second booking.
“Then, the second yellow card, today in the first half, I felt he [Pinheiro] was giving it,” Kompany added.
“Then I felt he pulled out because he realised he’d already given him a yellow card and didn’t want to send him off for that.”
The 11 goals scored throughout the PSG-Bayern tie were the third-most in any Champions League semi-final, after Liverpool versus Roma in 2018 and Barcelona versus Inter last season (both 13).
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