Manuel Gräfe, a German international referee who retired from officiating matches in 2021 to become a football pundit for Bundesliga matches, European competitions and national teams on TV blasted István Kovács for keeping a blind-eye on Vitinha’s tackle on Gündogan.
The 50-year-old Manuel during Wednesday analysis of the events leading to Barça’s defeat was confident that the tackle should’ve been a penalty kick for Barcelona, he even doubled down with the help of images.
Barça were trailing by 1-3 when the incident happened, and if the penalty was given, the score would be 2-3 (5-5 aggregate). This could’ve changed the atmosphere of the game for Barça who were ‘unjustly’ reduced to 10 men in the 30th minute of the night.
“Vitinha hits Gündogan in a way that makes him fall. He exaggerates it a bit towards the end of the fall, which might have made the referee think it wasn’t intentional. But whether it was intentional or not doesn’t matter. It was a clear penalty!” Manuel Gräfe posted on social media.
