Why was Bayern Munich’s late goal against Real Madrid ruled out?

Matthijs De Ligt had the ball in the net deep into injury-time but referee Szymon Marciniak controversially disallowed the goal for offside.

Bayern Munich have been eliminated from the Champions League in the cruellest manner possible, with the manner of their exit not helped by Matthijs De Ligt’s potential injury-time equaliser controversially being ruled out for offside.

The Bavarians looked to be heading for a final against compatriots Borussia Dortmund thanks to Alphonso Davies’ stunning strike midway through the second half, only to be undone by Joselu’s late double.

Manuel Neuer made a huge error for the Madrid striker’s first goal, while his second was given by the VAR after referee Szymon Marciniak had initially ruled it out for offside.

With little time left to play, that looked to be that for the Germans. However, in one of the last attacks of the game, De Ligt fired the ball into the net, but only after the whistle had been blown for offside against defender Noussair Mazraoui.

Both Mazraoui and De Ligt had been the targets of a long pass forward, although the Moroccan was the man who ultimately got on the end of it. He and then Thomas Müller kept the ball alive in Madrid box, where De Ligt shot low past Andriy Lunin,

De Ligt was clearly offside when the ball was played forward but didn’t touch it in that first phase of play. Mazraoui did but was immediately flagged offside and a free-kick was given a second or two before De Ligt’s finish.

Replays quickly showed that it was extremely difficult to see whether Mazraoui was, in fact, offside or not, but the speed of the decision to award a free-kick meant the game stopped and prevented VAR from checking the decision, as would - and should - normally have been the case.