Haaland's opening penalty is controversial
"We need to change the decisions we make when it comes to penalties," wrote center-back Mats Hummels on Twitter after watching Man City's 7-0 win over Leipzig on March 14. "Things are going in the wrong direction." Hummels' former Germany teammate Lukas Podolski wrote: "VAR sucks".
When the score was 0-0 in the 21st minute, Rodri headed home defender Benjamin Henrichs in the Leipzig penalty area. Initially, the referee Slavko Vincic allowed the game to continue. But after consulting VAR, he gave Man City a penalty. The slow-motion image shows Henrichs letting the ball touch his hand with his back to his opponent and at close range.
From the 11m mark, Haaland shot down and stretched to the lower right corner, not giving goalkeeper Janis Blaswich a chance to stop. That penalty made it easier for Man City to kick and score consecutive goals, and Leipzig broke the game.
"The decision to blow that penalty was a joke," former Germany defender Mathias Sammer told Sport1 television. "You have to raise your hand when you jump. I can't understand why there's been such a harsh decision on this high-level playground. I don't want to hear the rules anymore, this is the second week in a row." .
Sammer wants to repeat a controversial penalty, with the disadvantage of the Germans, in Dortmund's 0-2 loss to Chelsea last week. After consulting VAR, referee Danny Makkelie determined that Marius Wolf blocked Chilwell's cross with his hand and awarded Chelsea a penalty. Kai Havertz missed the penalty, but was retaken because the Dortmund player entered early. In the replay, Havertz set the score 2-0 for Chelsea, knocking Dortmund out of the Champions League.
Commenting on the situation of blowing a penalty in the Man City - Leipzig match, German referee Wolfgang Stark expressed his opinion to Amazon Prime: "I will not blow a penalty in that situation, because in my opinion it is a natural movement of Henrichs. Trong. The Vincic thought that Henrichs' arm was outstretched, but I don't think it was an unusual movement."
In the match at Etihad Stadium on the evening of March 14, Erling Haaland became the fastest player to score five goals in a Champions League match, after only 57 minutes. The Norwegian striker helped Man City win the biggest match in their history in the European Cup.
Leipzig was eliminated with a total score of 1-8, following Dortmund's exit from the tournament. Germany is likely to have only Bayern in the quarterfinals. Frankfurt has not yet played the second leg of the 1/8 round, but it is difficult to continue because it lost to Napoli 0-2 at home in the first leg.
