UEFA has finally admitted that Marc Cucurella’s controversial handball against Germany in the quarter-final of Euro 2024 should have been a penalty, according to a report from UEFA’s Referees Committee.
It was perhaps one of the most controversial moments of Euro 2024, with Jamal Musiala’s strike in extra-time appearing to make contact with Cucurella’s arm, while the Chelsea defender was stood inside the penalty area.
Almost immediately, referee Anthony Taylor was swarmed by German players, including Musiala, Florian Wirtz and Niclas Fullkrug, who led the appeals for a penalty.
The English referee did not take heed of their appeals, with VAR Stuart Attwell backing the official’s decision. Cucurella had appeared to have his left arm down at his side, away from his body, with Musiala’s goal-bound shot making contact.
Spain would go on to clinch a last-gasp winner to book their passage to the semi-finals of the tournament after Dani Olmo’s second-half strike had been cancelled out by Wirtz’s 89th-minute equaliser. In the 119th minute of extra-time Mikel Merino would seal the win, heading in a cross from Olmo.
National coach, Julian Nagelsmann, subsequently hit out at the penalty decision while Cucurella was booed by home fans, but it seems, according to UEFA, the penalty should have stood.
Nearly two months after that match, UEFA’s Referee Committee has told international referees that there was an error and that Taylor should have awarded a spot-kick to Germany, according to Relevo. It adds that Attwell, the VAR, should have also intervened.
‘Following the latest UEFA guidelines, hand-to-ball contact that stops a shot on goal should be punished more strictly, and in most cases, a penalty kick should be awarded, unless the defender’s arm is very close to the body or on the body,’ the Referees Committee said on the incident in a report, per Relevo.
‘In this case, the defender Cucurella stops the shot on goal with his arm, which is not very close to the body, making itself bigger, so a penalty kick should have been awarded.
But the committee added that Cucurella should not have received a yellow card for the infringement
German fans were left incensed by the decision not to hand Julian Nagelsmann’s side a penalty with the national side’s coach criticising the decision after the match.
Taylor was reportedly heard being ‘loudly insulted’ by Nagelsmann in his dressing room following the handball controversy.
A ‘teary-eyed’ German coach also insisted his side didn’t deserve to lose against Spain before calling for a revision of the handball rule.–Dailymail
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