The 2023/24 Champions League quarterfinal clash between Arsenal and Bayern Munich was marked with crops of controversies.
The game served up four goals, evenly shared by the two sides but Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg suffered heavy backlash for his apparently erroneous decisions.
One such decision was when he decided not to award Bayern Munich a penalty in the second half when Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes picked a pass with his hand from goalkeeper David Raya and placed it again in the box for a goal kick.
Bayern Munich players fumed at the decision, insisting it was a ‘clear penalty’ and a ‘stupid decision’ not to award it.
While Gabriel Magalhaes’ mistake amounted to a penalty, it is understood there was a misunderstanding between the player and the referee Glenn Nyberg.
Glenn Nyberg blew the whistle immediately after David Raya sent the short pass to Gabriel Magalhaes. So, Magalhaes thought the whistle to be for a retaken goal kick, hence his handling of the ball to take the goal kick.
Most pundits have argued it was a penalty to Bayern Munich but Glenn Nyberg was lenient enough to wave it off as a no-penalty, more so, for his role in the miscue with the timing of his whistle.
Bayern Munich were leading 2-1 when the incident occurred. Serge Gnabry’s low shot from inside the box had canceled out Bukayo’s 12th-minute superb finish before Harry Kane scored from the spot to race the visitors in front.
Leandro Trossard came on and registered an instant impact, scoring in the 76th minute to peg the Bavarians to a 2-2 draw.
In the dying seconds of the game, Arsenal also had their moment calling for a penalty after Manuel Neuer appeared to bring down Bukayo Saka in the box but the incident was waved off as a no-penalty as well.
