MUNICH (AP) – Real Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa criticized referee Slavko Vincic’s “inexplicable” decision to send off Eduardo Camavinga in the final moments of the game. Bayern Munich wins 4-3 in the Champions League on wednesday.
Vincic was whistled for a foul after Bayern forward Harry Kane, with minimal contact with Camavinga, went down and clutched his shin in pain. Vincic then showed the Madrid substitute a second yellow card, but appeared to forget that he had already singled him out. Bayern players including Jamal Musiala, Joshua Kimmich and Aleksandar Pavlovic alerted him and the player was subsequently sent off.
Three minutes later, Luis Diaz leveled the score at 3-3, putting Bayern 5-4 on aggregate, but Michael Oliseh sealed the win in stoppage time, with Bayern winning the second leg 6-4.
“Everything ended with the red card,” Arbeloa said. “It’s unbelievable. You can’t send off a player for this act. It’s unfair in a game like that. Well, we’re very upset and very angry, but I also want to congratulate Bayern Munich.”
After losing 2-1 in the first leg of the quarter-finals in Madrid last week, Madrid were on the brink of a comeback, with Arda Guler scoring twice and Kylian Mbappé another.
Arbeloa said the sending off was “totally inexplicable and unfair”.
“The draw happened in a way that was beyond our control and I feel terrible for the players and the effort they put in,” he said.
“I’m very proud of them, the fans, everyone who traveled, the people back home and the club. What hurts the most about this defeat is that we won’t be able to win our 16th (European title) this year, and above all because something like this happened.”
Madrid are nine points behind Barcelona in La Liga with seven matches remaining and face the prospect of a second successive season without a trophy, having been knocked out of the Spanish Cup by second-tier side Albacete Balompié in January.
This will likely be the second time Mbappé has finished a season without winning a major trophy since joining Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain in 2024.
PSG won the Champions League next season and will return to the semi-finals to face Bayern later this month in May.
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