Many German football fans will remember this scene: despite a handball by Cucurella in the European Championship quarter-final against Spain, Germany was not awarded a penalty. Now the Spaniard has spoken out.
More than three months after the European Championship quarter-final between Germany and Spain, the debate about the penalty that was not awarded following a handball by Spain's Marc Cucurella continues. In an interview with the Italian newspaper "Gazzetta dello Sport", Cucurella himself commented on the decisive moment in the match against the German national team: "Mamma mia, what a shock. I wet my pants."
He looked at the referee and saw that he was sure and wasn't going to give a penalty. "I said to myself: "Relax!" But I couldn't do that until the game was restarted," said the 26-year-old. He is surprised about the discussions three months after the game: "And now they come and say it was a penalty. What's the point of that? The real problem is that there's a lot of confusion about the rules."
UEFA is said to have admitted mistakes
The background to this is the much-discussed scene in extra time when Spain's Cucurella clearly stopped Jamal Musiala's shot with his arm in the penalty area at 1-1, but the English referee Graham Taylor allowed play to continue. Spain won 2-1 in the end thanks to a goal from former Dortmund player Mikel Merino.
In retrospect, the European Football Union (UEFA) admitted a major refereeing error in the match, according to media reports. In this case, "a penalty kick should have been awarded", according to a report by the UEFA Referees' Committee, quoted by the Spanish portal "Relevo".
dpa
