'Experienced this few years ago': Furious Thomas Muller recalls Ronaldo's controversial goals after UCL exit

Bayern Munich midfielder Thomas Muller referenced Cristiano Ronaldo after Real Madrid came from behind to clinch a famous victory and dump the Bavarian side out of the Champions League. Muller was speaking about the disallowed Bayern goal that would have taken the match into extra time.

The German giants surrendered a one-goal lead to Madrid in the dying minutes of the game due to individual errors.

However, during the pressduties, Muller said the referees favoured the Spanish side, as they did in 2017

"Marciniak? He did not watch the video. He did not give himself the opportunity to look at it," said Muller, talking about the Polish referee.

"It's really strange, in such a situation, to whistle so fast. This often happens here in Madrid. "I experienced this a few years ago, with two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo. But it was before the VAR," he added.

The incident Muller referred to occurred in the second leg of the UCL quarter-final tie in 2016-17 which saw Real Madrid beat Bayern 4-2 after extra-time to secure a 6-3 aggregate win.

Ronaldo scored twice in the added time, helping Madrid reach the next round. However, replays showed that both goals should have been chalked off due to offside.VAR had not been introduced in European competition at the time, so the on-field decisions were final.

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Linesman apologises

Bayern defender Matthijs de Ligt scored the contentious goal in the stoppage time but it was ruled out as the linesman had raised the offside flag. After the match, De Ligt claimed that the linesman apologised to him for disallowing the goal.

“The rule says that if it’s not clear offside...you have to keep playing.” De Ligt said. “And if you go in the last minute and you whistle like this, I think this is a big mistake. If it’s offside or not, I don’t know, VAR can check it, but if you don’t check it, how can you see it? This is a shame.”

The offside on the De Ligt goal looked close to the naked eye but since the whistle was blown, VAR could not involve itself in the recheck process.

The Madrid win means the record UCL holders will have a shot at a 15th title when they square up against underdogs, Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium on June 1.

(With inputs from agencies)