A frustrated Vincent Kompany lamented a series of refereeing calls against his Bayern Munich side as they were pipped by Paris Saint-Germain to a place in the Champions League final against Arsenal.
Harry Kane’s late equaliser at the Allianz Arena was not enough to prevent a 6-5 aggregate defeat, Bayern toiling for much of the night after Ousmane Dembélé’s third-minute goal for PSG. But Bayern were furious when the visiting defender Nuno Mendes was not shown a second yellow card for what appeared a deliberate first-half handball, PSG being awarded a free-kick instead, and their anger increased when no penalty was awarded after Vitinha’s clearance struck the arm of João Neves.
In practice handballs are rarely awarded when the result of a teammate’s intervention but Kompany, who was unhappy when PSG were given a spot-kick for handball against Alphonso Davies in the first leg, sensed the combination of decisions against his team had taken the tie away from them.
“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,” he said. “If we look at both legs probably too much went against us. The guys gave everything and we tried against a fantastic PSG team.
“[João Neves’s] 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.”
Mendes appeared to be spared a red card after the referee, João Pinheiro, spotted a previous handball offence against Bayern’s Konrad Laimer. “I felt he pulled out because he realised he already gave him a yellow and he didn’t want to send him off for that,” Kompany said.
Kompany’s opposite number, Luis Enrique, could look ahead to a mouthwatering final match-up against his fellow Spaniard Mikel Arteta. “It’s going to be different,” he said. “They have been performing the whole season at a high level, they were unbelievable. We want to continue making history in Paris, and to make history we need to win the second one in a row.”
