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Cape Town - Former FC Bayern Munchic player Owen Hargreaves slammed the officials in control of Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final between Real Madrid and his former team, saying that the result had been ‘decided by referees’ and not the players.
Hargreaves was speaking after Real defeated Bayern 4-2 at the Bernabeu for a 6-3 aggregate win in a game that featured several controversial decisions.
Bayern’s Arturo Vidal received a red card in the 84th minute for a tackle that many pundits viewed as fair, before Real scored three goals in extra time - two of which looked to be offside.
Hargreaves, working as an analyst for BT Sport, was incensed with what he viewed as incorrect decisions costing his former team a place in the semi-finals.
“Why do we not have technology in football? For a game of this magnitude I really don't understand it, a game between two the greatest teams in the Champions League is decided, ultimately, by a group of referees,” he said.
“I find it unacceptable at this level to have decisions, that many big ones, go the wrong way.
“Cristiano Ronaldo gets a hat-trick and will get the headlines but this game was decided, ultimately, by the referees. They played a bigger part than Bayern Munich or Real Madrid did,” added Hargreaves.
Talking about the Vidal red card, he said, “I'm not sure how he has given a yellow card for that, it's not even a foul. (Vidal) clearly plays the ball.
“Awful decision which ended up deciding the game, Bayern down to 10 men changed everything. At that point Bayern were the better team in the second half.”
Hargreaves was also upset about Ronaldo’s extra-time goals, the first of which appeared to be well offside.
“How can you not see that? That's what you get paid for. That is all you have to do is see that, is see that and (Ronaldo) is off, he's miles off.
“We're talking penalties, red cards and offside goals, how many opportunities do they need? It's disappointing really because we've got two of the best team you've ever seen in this competition and afterwards all the talk is going to be about referees.”
