Handed penalty or not? That was the big debate after the European Championship quarter-final between Germany and Spain. The referee allowed play to continue. A UEFA report now seems to say: it was a mistake.
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- UEFA has apparently conceded that the penalty that was not awarded following a handball by Spain's Marc Cucurella in the European Championship quarter-final against Germany was a mistake.
- "If it is true that UEFA now admits that it was a wrong decision - then we have obviously been cheated," said Germany's record international Lothar Matthäus angrily.
- The DFB has yet to react to UEFA's late admission.
Two and a half months after the European Championship quarter-final between Germany and Spain, UEFA has apparently conceded that the penalty that was not awarded following a handball by Spain's Marc Cucurella was a wrong decision. 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".
European Championship hosts Germany lost the game 2:1 after extra time. Cucurella was then booed by German fans at every other game of the eventual European champions Spain.
"Relevo" published the report on Monday, which is part of a regular briefing for the top European referees. It states: "According to the latest UEFA guidelines, hand-ball contact that prevents a shot on goal should be penalized more severely and in most cases a penalty kick should be awarded."
Exception: "The defender's arm is very close to the body or touches the body." In the case of Cucurella, however, a player "stopped the shot on goal with his arm, which is not very close to his body, making it bigger".
Matthäus is angry with UEFA
Instead of awarding a penalty for the German team, the English referee Anthony Taylor allowed the European Championship quarter-final to continue with the score at 1:1 in extra time. The video assistant did not intervene either. Shortly before the end of the game, former Dortmund player Mikel Merino scored to make it 2:1 for Spain.
Germany's record international Lothar Matthäus is not satisfied with UEFA's apparent admission - on the contrary. "If it's true that UEFA now admits that it was a wrong decision - then we've obviously been cheated! Then the alleged instruction was just an excuse. It's actually a cheek that it's now being admitted what everyone saw at the time," the 63-year-old told Bild.
There had been an instruction from the UEFA referee chairman for the European Championship not to whistle a penalty if the arm was hanging down loosely, Matthäus said. That's why he said it was an understandable decision at the time. "But today the question arises: Did this instruction not actually exist? I would be interested to hear what the referee and the VAR had to say to clarify this." The DFB has yet to respond to UEFA's late admission.