“The mistake was the linesman’s” - Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos weighs in on controversial offside call against Bayern Munich

Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos has given his take on the controversial offside call in their second-leg semi-final tie against Bayern Munich on May 8.

After playing out a 2-2 draw, the two sides met for the reverse fixture at the Santiago Bernabeu. With the Bavarians 2-1 down in the dying moments, the linesman stopped play for offside despite Ferland Mendy winning the header.

This action eventually saw Matthijs de Ligt find the net, but the point of contention came when the linesman raised his flag up fairly early on. With VAR not intervening in the incident, Kroos said (via Madrid Zone on X):

"Two questions - Was it offside? I didn't get the answer yet. Every one has seen the still image, but so far no line has been drawn. There is no official result. And if this result were, for example: it was offside and if it was only a millimeter, then we don't need to discuss it.

"The mistake was the linesman's, they need to wait. The referee trusts him that it was three meters offside. It is difficult when the linesman was so convinced, holding the flag. The handling was bad, the play must continue, no question at all."

He added:

"Second question - Would the goal have been scored if it wasn't for the whistle? The shot of De Ligt is very good. But I spoke to Nacho. Nacho says he heard the whistle really early and stopped to some extent, otherwise he would really get there and block the ball.

"Lunin is relatively not alerted after the whistle, he doesn't even go down, he didn't even attempt to save it. You could really notice that the tension fell among the defense to defend the goal. That's why this cannot be clarified conclusively, I think."

Real Madrid managed to hold on to their lead and now face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final.

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Real Madrid scored twice late on to beat Bayern Munich in the second leg

Real Madrid players celebrating

Before the controversial offside call, Real Madrid proved why they had won the UEFA Champions League on 14 occasions. The Spanish giants went down in the tie to Alphonso Davies' 68th-minute strike.

However, they found an equalizer through substitute Joselu in the 88th minute. Within about three minutes, the 34-year-old Spanish attacker netted once more to provide his team the lead.

Overall, the player has made 47 appearances across competitions this season, bagging 16 goals and three assists. It's likely that he will play a role off the bench in the final.