Asisat Oshoala Blasts Refereeing After Bayern’s Champions League Exit To PSG

Asisat Oshoala has criticised the refereeing in the UEFA Champions League semi-final between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night.

Bayern hosted defending champions PSG at the Allianz Arena hoping to overturn the 5-4 defeat they suffered in the first leg in Paris.

Unlike the entertaining first meeting, which produced nine goals and received praise from football fans across Europe, the second leg was a tighter contest. PSG secured a 1-1 draw to qualify for a second consecutive Champions League final and remain in the race to defend their crown.

The French champions opened the scoring early in the match when Ousmane Dembele scored after only three minutes to extend PSG’s aggregate lead to 6-4.

Bayern found it difficult to break through PSG’s organised defence for most of the game before Harry Kane grabbed a late equaliser in stoppage time to make it 1-1 on the night.

The game was overshadowed by several controversial officiating decisions that left Bayern unhappy, especially over two penalty appeals in the first half.

Referee Joao Pinheiro refused to issue a second yellow card to Nuno Mendes after the ball struck his arm in the 29th minute. Instead, the official awarded PSG a free-kick after ruling that Konrad Laimer had handled the ball earlier in the move.

Shortly afterwards, Bayern players also appealed for a penalty after a clearance from Vitinha appeared to hit the arm of Joao Neves inside the penalty area, but the referee ignored the protests.

Many Bayern supporters believed those decisions had a major impact on the result, as a red card or penalty could have changed the outcome of the tie.

Reacting on X, formerly known as Twitter, Oshoala expressed disappointment with the officiating and suggested that mistakes from match officials are still common despite the use of VAR.

PSG will now face Arsenal in the Champions League final in Budapest on May 30.

Arsenal reached the final after beating Atletico Madrid 2-1 on aggregate in the other semi-final tie involving Ademola Lookman.