Borussia Dortmund were left furious after Jude Bellingham had a goal controversially disallowed by referee Ovidiu Hategan for an apparent foul on Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson.
Kevin De Bruyne applied the finishing touch to a typically free-flowing City move after 19 minutes before Hategan got himself in a muddle over a penalty decision, initially penalising Emre Can for a foul on Rodri before overturning the decision after a VAR review. Bizarrely, Can’s yellow card remained intact.
Far more controversy was to follow, though, when Dortmund had a seemingly good goal ruled out. Bellingham dutifully chased a long ball forward from Raphael Guerreiro and after Ederson took a heavy touch, the 17-year-old nipped in to intercept before rolling the loose ball into the back of the net.
However, Hategan blew his whistle before the ball had gone in, meaning VAR was unable to intervene or advise the referee to watch it back on his pitchside monitor. To rub salt into the wound, Bellingham was inexplicably shown a yellow card for dangerous play.
It also would have given the Bundesliga side a priceless away goal.
Borussia Dortmund were understandably perplexed by the decision, with their official Twitter account posting a series of question marks in isolation immediately afterwards.
Former City academy star Jadon Sancho, who was missing due to injury, also made his feelings on the incident clear, tweeting: “This Ref needs checking!”
“This is not a free-kick, this is not a free-kick I don’t know what the referee has seen here,” said an equally bemused Jermaine Jenas on BT Sport.
“He takes too long on the ball here, Ederson, tries to flick it up and volley it and Bellingham nicks it off him. If anything he volleys Bellingham on the way by.
“Watch this, flicks it up, I’ll take that, thank you. There’s nothing wrong with that, I’ve won the ball cleanly. There’s nothing wrong with that at all.”
This Ref needs checking! ????????
— Jadon Sancho (@Sanchooo10) April 6, 2021
Aged 17 years and 281 days, Bellingham became the second-youngest player to start a Champions League quarter-final, after former Stoke City striker Bojan Krkic (17 years, 217 days) for Barcelona against Schalke 04 in April 2008.
And the England international will feel as though the occasion should have been marked with a historic goal.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3wzOCzu
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