Should there have been a penalty? After Germany's European Championship exit, fans and experts are discussing one scene in particular. Opinions are diametrically opposed. A classification by blue Sport refereeing expert Stephan Klossner.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Germany loses the European Championship quarter-final against Spain 2:1 after extra time.
- After the game, there is one scene in particular that has people talking: Should there have been a penalty for Germany after Marc Cucurella's handball or not.
- Opinions differ widely. For blue Sport refereeing expert Stephan Klossner, it was not a bad decision not to give a penalty. Nevertheless, he understands the Germans' anger.
In extra time, Jamal Musiala fires a shot that Marc Cucurella stops with his hand in his own penalty area. For some, a crystal-clear penalty, for others a correct decision not to award a penalty.
"The outcry is of course huge, I understand that very, very well," says blue Sport refereeing expert Stephan Klossner. "The referee tries to interpret the current hand rule as best he can. He stands well and decides for himself that it's a natural position. I see it that way too." Cucurella is also still trying to withdraw his hand. "But it's certainly still a borderline case because the hand is not completely on the body. But for me it's okay that they don't rule it a handball and the VAR doesn't intervene."
Klossner understands, however, that the rule can be debated in principle. "What Julian Nagelsmann said at the press conference, that the handball rule needs to be reconsidered, that what happens with the shot should be taken into account, I think that's a very good and exciting approach. Because here, of course, a shot on goal was clearly blocked."
It should also be noted that referee Anthony Taylor adhered to the UEFA handball guidelines set out by head referee Roberto Rosetti before the tournament during the big incident of the evening.
The comparable example
Rosetti had shown a comparable scene during a press conference shortly before the European Championship. RB Leipzig's Castello Lukeba had received the ball in a similar way in the Champions League match against Manchester City in October 2023: from a short distance, on the downward-hanging arm, which also gave way when the ball was touched. "That's never a penalty," said Rosetti about the scene. The player tried to avoid contact. The arm was close to the body in a natural position.
The ambiguities
Taylor did not comment on Friday evening, UEFA was asked about the case. It also remained unclear on Saturday whether Niclas Füllkrug would have been offside anyway when he made the previous pass to Musiala. In that case, it wouldn't have mattered whether Cucurella's handball was punishable or not.
What the national coach says
Julian Nagelsmann did not want to cite the controversial decision as the reason for the European Championship exit. However, the scene did not let go of the national coach. "If Jamal's shot is on goal, there's a penalty, if he goes into the stands and you can see that, then there's no penalty, it's relatively simple. He goes for goal, probably even into the goal, and there's no penalty, I can't understand that," said Nagelsmann, who also spoke out in favor of using new technology: "There are 50 robots that bring us coffee, then there's also AI that calculates where the cross comes down."
What other experts say
Bundesliga referee Patrick Ittrich tried to calm the debate on the streaming service MagentaTV. "You have to analyze it in terms of the rules: What is the player doing from the referee's point of view? The player pulls his hand back out of the path of the shot." The expert spoke of a "handball dilemma". Former national team player Michael Ballack could not understand this: "That is a clear wrong decision." He did not know whether Taylor and his team had decided against a penalty "out of fear or respect".
And in his column for "t-online", former German international Stefan Effenberg defended the referee and even gave him "perhaps the best refereeing performance in the entire tournament". The decision was the right one.
