Erling Haaland missed the chance to all but confirm Manchester City’s place in the Champions League semi-finals after smashing his first-half penalty against Bayern Munich over the bar
Erling Haaland might be a defence-pummelling, goal-hoovering freak of nature – but he’s only human.
The Manchester City superstar blazed his first-half penalty over the Bayern Munich bar, spurning the chance to put his side into the lead on the night and give them an uncatchable 4-0 advantage on aggregate.
Justice was done in the eyes of fans who branded the decision to award a spot kick after the ball merely tickled the arm-hairs of Bayern defender Dayot Upamecano everything from “harsh” to “absolutely stark-raving mad”.
“Nah that’s one of the harshest handballs I’ve seen, just about grazed his elbow now impact on ball whatsoever,” one supporter tweeted.
Another said: “This is one of the harshest penalties I’ve seen while,” while a third wrote: “That’s the dumbest penalty I ever seen this ref just doesn’t like Upamecano.”
This seemed incredibly harsh on Upamecano. Ball barely glanced his arm.
Was it a good call?#ucl pic.twitter.com/Z8BFjISdJV
— Sacha Pisani (@Sachk0) April 19, 2023
A fourth fan wrote: “Absolutely stark-raving mad that decision. What is Upamecano supposed to do with his arm?”
The incident came just a few minutes after Upamecano was shown a straight red card for bringing down Haaland as the last man. The referee later rescinded the card after Haaland was adjudged to have been marginally offside.
Erling Haaland skies it from the spot 😨
A rare Haaland miss from twelve-yards as the Allianz Arena rejoices!#UCL pic.twitter.com/vLh3kFKFg2
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 19, 2023
The Norwegian striker celebrated the card like he would a goal, but was left red-faced when he realised the decision had been overturned.
Upamecano was heavily criticised for his ‘disasterclass’ in the first leg in which he was arguably at fault for City’s second and third goals on the night.
The pair were heavily involved for the ket moment in the second half too, as Upamecano tragically slipped on the edge of the past before Haaland nipped past him and buried in the opening goal to make it 4-0 on aggregate with an hour gone in Munich.
SOURCE: dailystar.co.uk
