Real Madrid’s Marcelo admits handball and penalty

Late in the first half, Joshua Kimmich tried to cross the ball in the box, but it was blocked by Marcelo. The Bayern right back howled for a penalty. You howled for a penalty. I howled for a penalty. Jerome Boateng howled for a penalty on Twitter.

How could this be? Maybe the referee was out of position and just missed it? Nope. Once again, we turn to Twitter where not one, not two, but three referees had wonderful positioning in order to see an call the handball.

So, yeah, the refs missed a pretty clear handball, and Marcelo admitted as much after the game.

Interviewer: “Did it hit your hand?”

Marcelo: “Yes, it hit my hand.”

Interviewer: “If it hit your hand, then it was penalty.”

Marcelo: “It hit my hand, yes, I think it was a penalty . . . but I'm not going to talk about the referees. They've let us down many times, so now I cannot talk about the referees, when they benefit us. It was difficult for the referee, because he had many players in front of him, I'd be lying if I said it didn't hit me on the hand.”

(Marcelo's comments in Spanish can be read here.)

There’s an old saying that I thought about after the first leg in Munich, and it came into my head after the non-call on the handball.

“I’d rather be lucky than good.”

Luck — in more ways than just the handball — wasn’t on Bayern’s side this time. Surely, it’ll swing around to Bayern’s favor again... someday.