‘Bayern were shafted by ref in Madrid’ – Ronaldo wants boos to stop after rescuing Real again

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BERLIN, April 19, (Agencies): Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has accused the referee of “shafting” Bayern Munich in their Champions League defeat to Real Madrid. The Bayern chairman was incensed after Cristiano Ronaldo scored a controversial hat-trick as Real overcame 10-man Bayern to seal a 4-2 win in Tuesday’s quarter-final second leg. The holders won 6-3 on aggregate, but Bayern took the tie to extra time after it finished 2-1 to the Germans after 90 minutes, thanks to Robert Lewandowski’s penalty and an own goal from Sergio Ramos.

Bayern had Arturo Vidal sent off on 84 minutes and the Germans were further incensed as replays showed Ronaldo’s second and third goals, on 105 and 109 minutes, were clearly offside. Rummenigge turned his anger on Hungarian ref Viktor Kassai during his speech to the Bayern squad in Madrid. “For the first time, I’ve got some sort of mad rage inside me, because we had a shafting. We have been shafted in the truest sense of the word,” fumed Rummenigge during the team banquet.

“The team was in ruins in the dressing room. “It was an unfortunate, undeserved and bitter defeat.” Bayern’s coach Carlo Ancelotti has said UEFA should introduce video technology after the controversial quarter-final tie.

“In a quarter-final, you have to put a better referee, or it is the moment to introduce video refereeing, which is what UEFA are trying, because there are too many errors,” said the Italian. Vidal was dismissed for his second booking and to add injury to insult, Bayern’s goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is sidelined for the next eight weeks after fracturing his foot while trying to save Ronaldo’s second goal.

Chile midfielder Vidal directly blamed Kassi for their defeat. “A robbery like that can’t be allowed to happen in the Champions League,” fumed Vidal, who scored Bayern’s only goal in the 2-1 first-leg defeat.

“They are two offside goals, the bad red card, Casemiro should have been sent-off before me and it makes a big difference,” Vidal added as Real’s Casemiro could have also been dismissed for a second booking on more than one occasion.

“There is a lot of anger. A game of such high intensity can’t be decided by the referee. “When the game went 2-1 (to Bayern), they got scared and the referee began his ‘show’ and then with a man less, it is very difficult.

“The anger is there, because he made a lot of mistakes. “The referee put us out of the Champions League. “Real didn’t know what to do, we were always controlling the game and in the end everyone is angry.” Other Bayern stars also slammed the ref.

“A year of hard work down the drain. Thanks, ref — bravooooo” winger Franck Ribery wrote on Twitter.

“In extra time, we played with 10 men against 14,” said defender Jerome Boateng, meaning the ref and his assistants were on Real’s side.

Germany forward Thomas Mueller took a more diplomatic line.

“After we went 2-1 up and with 11 players, we were in great mental shape and then we had the wind taken out of our sails,” he said.

“You can’t just go home after that and say, ‘things like that happen in a game’.”

Cristiano Ronaldo asked for immunity from the boos of the ever-demanding Santiago Bernabeu crowd after his hat-trick against Bayern Munich on Tuesday fired Real Madrid into the semi-finals of the Champions League for a seventh consecutive season.

Ronaldo’s double in Munich had given Real a 2-1 lead in the first leg and after a couple of wayward shots in the first half had provoked whistles from the home supporters, the prolific Portuguese proved the difference in an eventual 4-2 win over Bayern after extra-time, setting up a 6-3 aggregate victory.

His header cancelled out Robert Lewandowski’s goal late in the second half and he then finished off Bayern with strikes in either half of extra-time after Sergio Ramos’ own goal had levelled the scores on aggregate, although his last two goals were from offside positions.

His third goal of the night and fifth of the tie saw him become the first player to reach 100 goals in the Champions League, and the four-times World Player of the Year put his finger to his lips to the supporters who had booed him earlier. “I’m not asking them to name streets after me, the only thing I ask is that they don’t boo me here,” Ronaldo told Spanish TV station Antena 3. “I want them to stop booing me because I always give my best and even when I don’t score I try to help Real Madrid.”

Manager Zinedine Zidane lavished praise on the team’s all-time top scorer but reminded Ronaldo that Real players had to get used to the relentless pressure from supporters of the 11-time European champions. “Perhaps the fans won’t boo him any more, but this is the Bernabeu and it can happen from time to time and he knows that,” said the former France captain.

“The only thing he did was to stay calm and he proved himself on the pitch. There are few players that are always there in the key moments, and the fans will be grateful for what Cristiano has done here. “He always knows that when there’s an important occasion, he’s going to be there and he showed it again tonight. What he did is outside any sort of category. There are few players who can do what Ronaldo has done and we all know that.”

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