VAR protocol damaged throughout Real Madrid’s victory over Bayern Munich

VAR protocol was broken during Real Madrid’s dramatic Champions League victory against Bayern Munich.

Los Blancos came from behind with two late goals from Joselu to win on the night 2-1, and reach the Champions League final with a 4-3 aggregate victory.

There had been a time where it looked as though Bayern would force an all-German final at Wembley thanks to a brilliant finish from Alphonso Davies.

Moments later though, Carlo Ancelotti‘s side thought they had netted an equaliser when Nacho directed the ball towards goal and the ball deflected in off Matthijs de Ligt. 

The goal was disallowed however, and TNT Sports commentator Darren Fletcher noted that protocol was broken during a VAR review of the incident. 

VAR protocol was ‘broken’ as replays of Nacho fouling Joshua Kimmich were shown inside the Santiago Bernabeu before the referee had officially come to a decision on the incident

Real Madrid thought they had equalised immediately after Alphonso Davies’ opener only for the referee to overturn the goal after judging that Kimmich had been fouled in the build-up

Players surrounded Szymon Marciniak before the goal was overturned by the referee

VAR was checking to see whether Nacho had fouled Joshua Kimmich during the corner routine which led to the goal.

During the review, replays of the incident were shown on the big screen inside the stadium. 

TNT commentator Fletcher said: ‘I thought there was some sort of rule against this happening.’

Football lawmakers IFAB announced last summer that VAR replays must not be shown inside stadiums until the match officials have made their decision. 

IFAB secretary Lukas Brud told Sky Sports last year that the decision was made to ‘protect referees’.

He said: ‘We want to avoid referees feeling pressured or influenced by players, managers or fans as they are in the process of making a decision.’

Despite the added pressure that might have been placed on the referee with the replays being shown inside the Santiago Bernabeu, he ultimately disallowed the goal.

There was late drama however as Joselu’s winning goal was awarded by VAR after the on-field offside decision was overturned upon review.

Joselu was the hero for Real Madrid with two late goals to send them to the Champions League final

Bayern Munich then thought they should have had a goal from Matthijs de Ligt which would have taken them to extra-time.

However, the referee had already blown his whistle before the ball hit the net for an offside decision against Noussair Mazraoui. 

Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel after the match said: ‘The linesman said sorry but that does not help.

‘There are two mistakes. The first big mistake is from the linesman. He raised his flag straight away; to raise your flag in a situation like this, you have to be very, very sure it’s offside. 

‘To have the guts, the balls, to raise the flag like this is a huge, huge call, and it is the wrong call. We got the shot away within five seconds [of the flag] and the referee has the chance not to whistle, but he whistles. It is against every rule.’