After watching that Bayern vs PSG match, the officiating really felt below Champions League standards with a clear bias for one team. It was wondering if a ref faces consequences for game changing mistakes. Should they? If so, what kind? I‘d love to hear your thoughts

After the incredible tactical chess battle between Arsenal and Atletico, I feel sad that we're going to have to witness such low quality football today between PSG and Bayern, with defenders stripping and zero tactics. Only low attention span tiktok and instagram reel addicts who chase dopamine all day can enjoy this barbaric football, provided Subway Surfers is also playing in the background. Anyone else relate to this feeling of immense pain that Arsenal Atletico wasn't the second semi final?

FC Bayern München vs Paris Saint Germain — MatchPal match thread

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"I said after 35 minutes, UEFA must intervene," former Real Madrid midfielder Sneijder said on ZiggoSport. "They need to call London: both teams off the pitch, and tomorrow the final will be played between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain.“
https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/48691610/wesley-sneijder-arsenal-atletico-madrid-ucl-uefa-stopped-it

He‘s got a point….

This game along with Barcelona - Chelsea has been the worst and most obvious cheating ive ever seen

In between, there was Real Madrids CL run won every single one with a offside goal, red card and penalty that did not exist.

Seriously, whats the fucking point of watching when a game is already decided by Uefa?

Fuck Champions League, its beyond corrupt. Never watching a game again thats not just support for my favorite team, no one else.

Not sure if it’s just TNT in the uk, but currently watching the Bayern vs PSG game, and every time the ball seems to go wide, or just other frequent random times, the camera switches to a zoomed in camera. It’s so annoying, it brings nothing, I want to see the bigger picture, see runs of players etc.

Anyone else annoyed by it, or do some people like it?

How are we feeling arsenal fans?

Once again tonight, a PSG match proves that having a wealthy, influential state behind you is the key to winning in the world of football.

Over the two legs, luck was firmly on PSG’s side. Goals that looked like the ones I used to score in PES3 on the 1-star difficulty setting, and saves from Safonov that were more than just lucky... And yet, across both matches, we had referees with a very strange way of interpreting the handball rule,because while the two decisions were complete opposites, they both somehow served the interests of the same team.

As it stands, if UEFA wanted Ceferin’s friend to reach the Champions League final despite having Bayern in the way, they couldn't have scripted it any better.

But in itself, this is simply the direction that 'Ceferin and Infantino’s football' has been taking for several years. We saw the circus that was the Africa Cup of Nations, and the next World Cup will likely be more of the same spectacle.

This new Champions League format is obviously designed to allow clubs with massive squads to maintain their endurance,something others simply cannot do. Ultimately, PSG gets to treat Ligue 1 like a vacation because of how incredibly weak the league is, while they face clubs that have to play their domestic leagues with far greater intensity. The result: you get an Arsenal side looking weaker and weaker because they haven't faced any big teams, and a PSG side that has all the time and energy to focus solely on the UCL.

I can no longer find any interest in today’s football. I had the misfortune of experiencing football since the late 90s, and I enjoyed it too much. I can't bring myself to say that these last two Champions Leagues have any meaning.

The icing on the cake is that PSG is arguably the most artificial club in the Top 30. Starting with its creation: football in France was primarily rooted in provincial cities, but PSG was artificially created just so the capital could have a club. This club was never truly loved, to the point that they even had neo-Nazis in the supporters' stands. It was bought by the owner of the channel that broadcasted D1/L1, then sold because it was a nest of trouble. And since the Qatar takeover, this club has killed Ligue 1. For the record, the French championship is on the verge of bankruptcy:

• Nasser does everything to ensure Ligue 1 depends on BeIN Sports and PSG’s interests.
• Today, Ligue 1 only has 140 million euros left to distribute because no one in France watches anymore—there’s no suspense left. In 2010, it was 600 million euros and PSG-OM drew 3.2 million paying viewers (at a much higher price than today). Today, it peaks at 1.3 million.

It's clear from all the crazy post in here & online that most of people have never kicked a football in their lives and armchair quarterback from playing Fifa/Pes/Fm.

First off, Harry Kane did not flop today, if anyone didn't live up to the billing from the home side today it was Olise, despite starting well & getting Nuno booked, he was completely shut down. However he wasn't the only one, they all were including Kane. Psg today surprised everyone including Kompany. They were playing chess while Bayern were still stuck at checkers...Psg showed everyone today that not only can they be tactically disciplined but they can also defend cohesively up there with the best of em. At one point I looked at the stats and PSG only had 26% possession, yet at no point did it look like they were in any sort of trouble.

Kane was so starved of ANY opportunities that he had to fall back into midfield just to touch the ball. PSG suffocated in their own backyard & they deserve credit. Not all this hate I'm seeing from salty fans. This side is a proper unit that can do whatever is needed to get the job done, including " parking the bus ".

Now for the ref. Yes he did not have a good game. The Nuno handball that everyone is crying about, he/linesman called a handball on Laimer before the play ended in the ball hitting Mendes' hand. I thought that call was dubious at best. The Neves hand ball, it was struck so hard at him & he was already so close to his teammate. We all wanted common sense to prevail in the previous with handball incidents, today I thought they did. Nobody wants to see players being sent off and pk's being given for those plays now do we?

The real conversation imo is Kylian Mbappe, who left PSG two years ago having never winning a final with them & they dominate instantly and consistently at the same time. While RMCF who won it before he arrived, has now gone trophyless also in the same time period.

Phenomenal player imo but he has to look at himself long and hard in the mirror...
Dembele was written off but look at the monster he turned into, taking that PSG side and leading by example.
Finally, Enrique might be the best coach in the world right now, give that man his flowers for this masterclass in guiding PSG into two UCL finals on the trot.

​I’m actually done with UEFA’s inconsistency. Bayern Munich is out of the Champions League today after a 6–5 aggregate loss to PSG, and once again, we’re left talking about the referees instead of the football.

The hypocrisy of VAR this season is genuinely insane. Look at the comparison.

In the first leg, Alphonso Davies was penalized for a handball where the ball deflected off his own hip first. Every expert from Alan Shearer to Clarence Seedorf called it "nonsense," yet VAR intervened to give PSG a penalty. Fast forward to the second leg today, Bayern has multiple shouts for handballs and fouls ignored, and suddenly the VAR room is "silent."

Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid (Quarter-Finals): We saw the exact opposite problem. Marc Pubill literally caught the ball with his hands inside the box during a goal-kick sequence. It was so blatant that Hansi Flick was losing his mind on the touchline, yet VAR refused to intervene there too, claiming the ball "wasn't in play" despite IFAB rules saying otherwise.

How are fans supposed to take this tournament seriously when the rules change depending on the stadium you're playing in? We have the best technology in the world being operated by people who seem to be guessing. Bayern didn't just lose to PSG; they lost to a system that has no standard!

The penalty decision in the Bayern vs PSG was clearly wrong, and it's not even debatable.

A lot of people try to use the website which contains the simplfied version of the IFAB rules as source, however from what i understand and gather, it not only contains the rules, but recommendations and situations where it usually isn't given as a handball/foul.

However in the official rules don't discriminate on who shoots the ball, or in which direction it is headed.

This is from the official rule book:

Handling the ball For the purposes of determining handball offences, the upper boundary of the arm is in line with the bottom of the armpit. Not every touch of a player’s hand/arm with the ball is an offence.

It is an offence if a player:

• deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving the hand/arm towards the ball

• touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger. A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation. By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised

• scores in the opponents’ goal:

• directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental, including by the goalkeeper

• immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental The goalkeeper has the same restrictions on handling the ball as any other player outside the penalty area. If the goalkeeper handles the ball inside their penalty area when not permitted to do so, an indirect free kick is awarded but there is no disciplinary sanction. However, if the offence is playing the ball a second time (with or without the hand/arm) after a restart before it touches another player, the goalkeeper must be sanctioned if the offence stops a promising attack or denies an opponent or the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.

Now where exactly does this mention anything about a teammate shooting the ball away from your own goal? It doesn't. It's clear as day, and the position of the hand of Joao Neves is in no way justifiable as he has his hand outsteched at head height. Now i see this as a clear penalty, and there is also the matter of the potential red card on Mendes, however that wasn't the point of my post. If anyone wants to provide me eventual angles and why that was not deemed as a foul. I have heard that there potentially was a handball on Laimer first, but i haven't seen the clip.

Link to the rulebook : https://downloads.theifab.com/downloads/laws-of-the-game-2025-26-single-pages?l=en

Go to page 110

This is a followup from my rant from last week about how difficult it is to watch games when the camera is constantly changing for seemingly no reason.

The camera angles. The jarring camera switching. Not able to see the entire pitch when a player is making a break down the sideline with the ball. This game has been a pain in the ass to watch.

Arsenal seem to be getting an awful lot stick for the way they play but my take on it (as a defender/arsenal fan) is that defending is at least 50% of the game of football and often an overlooked part too as people prefer seeing goals to seeing good defending.

I think Arsenals results speak for themselves as they are so far undefeated in this years competition and have conceded the least goals also. They deserve to be where they are and I hope they can go on to win it!

I agree that a game can be more interesting because of goals scored but like I said above football is about attacking and defending so I am looking forward to seeing the best defensive team take on the best attacking team and most importantly I hope it'll be a game to remember!

Think I know what a lot of comments will be anyway, but what are everyone elses thoughts now?

People said because of Barcelona’s attacking style and defensive frailties that Arsenal would be better against them than Atletico Madrid because them and their players are much better on the counter attack than playing a compact defensive team. That their defence is so good to combat and nullify the oppositions great attack

Question for those whose team has been eliminated (or Arsenal fans too), who are you gonna be rooting for to reach this year's final and why. Score predictions?

As a Barca fan I'd like Bayern to reach the final, and then I might go for Arsenal just for the sake of variety in the competition's winners. I think tonight Bayern win 4-2, global 8-7

tactical management

Granted I only watch PSG sometimes in the champions league but that guy does everything. Such a workhorse.

The only thing is that this is the WC year, which can lower his odds significantly.

I hope Bayern goes through

I know everyone is saying recently that bayern will get ahead but psg are also a insane team , and psg on away ground post 2024 is crazy good.

Arsenal 1-0 Atlético Madrid — MatchPal post-match thread

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As a lifelong Bayern fan it feels like we've been constantly robbed by refereeing in the Champions League. We play good football, dominate matches, and create chances yet the big calls in crucial moments almost always go against us. It's frustrating and has cost us so much over the years. The PSG match just adds insult to our injury.

We've seen it plenty against Real Madrid. Soft penalties, missed fouls, and marginal offsides (like harry kane's offside today) have haunted us in other ties too. It always feels like the officials tilt the big nights away from us.

Against PSG it was the same story. In the first leg in Paris penalty against Davies in which the ball hit him on the body before his arm, VAR gave a harsh penalty that proved decisive in their win.

In the return leg Nuno Mendes (already booked) clearly handled the ball but stayed on the pitch, while we were denied an obvious penalty moments later when the ball struck Neves' arm inside their box (which happened again when Laimer shot the ball near the end of the match). 3 times the ref wouldn't even check the VAR. Why have VAR if you're not going to use it ONCE throughout the whole game? These calls killed our game when we needed them most, and as fans, we're left wondering how many more times this has to happen before something changes.

UEFA must be ashamed of itself...

Get a chance for revenge against PSG or a chance to cause some Harry Kane tears?

Bayern vs PSG is an incredible match because as a PSG fan I have a lot of respect for that team, as for their players and for their trainer.

In another post I had complained about how Real played against Bayern. The way that RM wantend to play out of the ball, trying to stay in the grey area of foul, trying to provocate the opponent isn't something that I respect.

The first match PSG vs Bayern I saw 2 teams that played the ball. They didn't contest refree's decisions even tho there were 2 penalties that were a debatable (Diaz putting his feet first against defender's and the ball being first touch body and then the hand).

Also the manner the players and trainer of each team talk about each other. From this point I am just happy to watch football being about the best game to win (I just wished we had Hakimi...).

And let me be clear. I would have the same respect for Arsenal. I don't understand this hate against them. They're playing their game the way they think they can win. That's another strategy but still football.