GINEBRA.- It has been a very difficult season in the Champions League for Szymon Marciniak, the referee who officiated the 2022 World Cup final, and the rest of his Polish assistants. Two discount decisions by Marciniak and his assistants — hurting the Bayern Munich in the semifinals on Wednesday and Newcastle in the group stage in November — have provoked refereeing controversies that are inconceivable in prestigious tournaments.
On both occasions, the interventions of Marciniak and his trio went against the parameters that UEFA recommends to its referees: not stopping the game immediately in situations with a tight offside position and not calling a penalty for a handball when the ball was deflected in the player’s body.
It was a “disastrous decision,” Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel said of the flag that the assistant raised and which Marciniak immediately whistled for “offside” in an agonizing attack — in the 13th minute of added time. Bayern needed a goal to force extra time against the Real Madrid.
Matthijs de Ligt finished on goal, and if it was confirmed, the score was 2-2.
In the previous Marciniak controversy, Newcastle coach Eddie Howe called it a “poor decision” when Paris Saint-Germain converted a penalty in the eighth minute of stoppage time to salvage a 1-1 draw at the Parc des Princes.
The victory would have left Newcastle above PSG and in second place in the group, behind the leader Borussia Dortmund, with a date to play. PSG eventually advanced to the semifinals and was eliminated this week by Dortmund.
Marciniak awarded the penalty for a handball against Newcastle defender Tino Livramento after consulting with the VAR assistant. That assistant, Tomasz Kwiatkowski, was ruled out for his next Champions League match.
Kwiatkowski worked on Wednesday in Madrid, but did not intervene in Bayern’s tight offside because Marciniak had stopped the play before De Ligt’s shot.
Deep annoyance at Bayern:
“It’s like a betrayal,” said Tuchel. “It is an important mistake because the referee has the possibility of not blowing the whistle. He realizes that we have won the rebound. Whipping is a bad decision. “It’s against the regulations, it’s a bad decision for both of us.”
“The lineman apologized, but that is of no use,” he added.
De Ligt mentioned that the assistant apologized directly to him: “He told me he was sorry and that he had made a mistake.”
UEFA did not comment Thursday on adhering to its protocol on on-field decisions.
Still considered one of the best referees in the world, Marciniak plans to referee at the European Championship, where Bayern’s stadium is one of the 10 venues for the tournament between June 14 and July 14. It seems unlikely that UEFA will assign Marciniak and his assistants to a match in Munich.
Source: AP
