Hosts Germany saw their hopes of a first European Championship title since Euro 96 end on Friday when Mikel Merino’s 119th-minute header sealed a dramatic 2-1 extra-time quarter-final win for Spain in Stuttgart.
A Florian Wirtz 89th-minute equaliser meant that the scores were level at the end of 90 minutes, but more drama was to come in extra time before former Newcastle United star Merino’s late winner.
Germany believed they should have been awarded a penalty in the second half of the extra period when a Jamal Musiala goal-bound shot hit the arm of Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella inside the penalty area. Premier League referee Anthony Taylor waved away the German penalty appeals, while there was also no VAR intervention.
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“The penalty we got against Denmark was much less of a penalty,” an angry Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann fumed following his side’s defeat. “I cannot understand why it was not evaluated, even though there were 48,000 replays.”
Spain’s win saw them book a Tuesday evening semi-final against France in Munich, but that has not stopped irate Germany fans from launching a petition on Change.org, demanding that the game be repaid.
The petition quickly went viral, picking up more than 390,000 signatures as of Monday lunchtime, but with UEFA confirming after the game that they believe the correct decision was made, the chances of the petition being successful are non-existent.
Referring guidelines issued before the tournament stated that penalties would not be awarded unless arms or hands were in an unnatural position when being struck, with Cucurella’s arm close to his body, in a near-vertical position.
This decision was the second controversial decision made by Taylor and his VAR Stuart Atwell at the tournament, following the disallowed goal scored by Xavi Simons in the Netherlands’ 0-0 draw with France, when Dutch full-back Denzel Dumfries was adjudged to have been in an off-side position.
Taylor’s time at Euro 2024 does look to be over however, with the referee returning home, as per the Mail, who report that England’s involvement in the semi-final stage mean that he is unlikely to be chosen to referee Sunday night’s final in Berlin.
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