At first, it seemed like such an innocuous moment in an otherwise scintillating night of Champions League action.
Real Madrid was beating Bayern Munich 3-2 in the second leg of their quarterfinal. The scores were level on aggregate and extra-time seemed a certainty with less than five minutes left on the clock.
Then, in the 86th minute, Los Blancos midfielder Eduardo Camavinga barely fouled Bayern striker Harry Kane to give away a soft free kick. Play should have just carried on without any hassle. Only, it didn’t.
It actually turned out to be the defining moment of Los Merengues’ season.
After the foul was given, Camavinga decided to temporarily stop Bayern’s players from taking the ball, briefly dribbling it away from the opposition before picking it up with his hands. It’s something that happens a lot in soccer; a way of slowing the restart of the game down, allowing the defensive side to get back in position.
But, by a strict interpretation of the rules of the game, it’s a yellow card for time-wasting. So, per the rulebook, referee Slavko Vinčić brandished his yellow card to Camavinga. Cue bedlam.
By the looks of Vinčić’s reaction, he had seemingly forgotten he had already given the Madrid midfielder a yellow card earlier in the match. Bayern’s players, though, quickly reminded him. And while in this situation, a referee might not give a second yellow given the stakes of the match, it was already too late.
Just as quickly as he pulled out the second yellow, Vinčić then gave the Frenchman his corresponding red card and sent Madrid down to 10-men for the final stages of the match.
Camavinga looked stunned, his teammates furious, and the referee was left dealing with protests from all angles.
Madrid’s players had barely regained their composure as the game got back underway and it proved disastrous.
Less than three minutes later, with Los Blancos all at sea, Luis Díaz struck a sublime effort – slightly deflected off Madrid defender Éder Militão – into the far corner of the net to give Bayern the lead on aggregate. Then, five minutes later, Michael Olise scored an even better goal with the last kick of the game to earn the Bavarians a 6-4 aggregate win, booking their place in the Champions League semifinals.
As Bayern celebrated, Madrid’s anger reached a boiling point inside Munich’s Allianz Arena. The referee was surrounded as he tried to walk off the pitch, with Arda Güler and Jude Bellingham leading the charge, both incandescent with rage at what had transpired at the end of the match.
Güler, who had scored two brilliant goals earlier in the match, was subsequently shown a red card for his aggression, with the argument between officials and Real Madrid players continuing down the tunnel.
In truth, though, the referee followed the rules. It was, if anything, a naive thing for Camavinga to do and one that angered plenty of madridistas around the world.
“A moment of madness, immaturity, silliness,” is how former Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard described Camavinga’s actions that led to his sending off.
“If you get a second yellow card for something that helps the team, or you put your body on the line, it’s understandable,” Gerrard said on the TNT Sports broadcast.
“But a moment of silliness, of madness. He’s cost his team at a really key moment of the game.”
Madrid’s manager Álvaro Arbeloa, naturally, was less happy with the decision, arguing that the referee should have had a better grasp of the situation in its context. He, like many others, thought the official had forgotten about the previous caution.
“Everything was over with the red card,” Arbeloa said after the match, adding the decision was “completely inexplicable and unfair.”
“It’s unbelievable. You cannot send off a player for this action. It’s not fair in a match like that, and well, we are very, very upset, very angry, but also congratulations to Bayern Munich.”
Ultimately, the defeat to Bayern might lead to Arbeloa losing his job after it ended Madrid’s most realistic shot at a trophy this season.
The former defender took over when Xabi Alonso was sacked as Madrid’s manager in January this year, but he hasn’t been able to turn around what was a disappointing start to the season under the previous regime.
In the league, Los Blancos are now nine points behind arch-rival Barcelona with just seven games to go. To somehow win La Liga, Madrid would require a highly unlikely collapse from Barça – particularly as the Blaugrana no longer have Champions League soccer to worry about.
It meant Ol’ Big Ears was the last realistic hope of silverware. Now, though, they will likely go almost two seasons without winning a trophy – the last of which was the 2024 UEFA Super Cup. That, for Real Madrid and its insatiable fanbase, is just unacceptable. Change, likely ruthless, is inevitable at the club, though it remains to be seen who will be affected: players, coaches, staff or even the boardroom.
“I’m not worried at all, and I will fully understand any decisions the club might make. I’m a man of this club. If I’m hurt today, it’s not for myself; it’s for Real Madrid,” Arbeloa said when asked about his future at the club.
In a way, it’s a shame that such a brilliant match of soccer will be remembered most for the controversial red card decision.
Both legs of this quarterfinal were so rich with a plethora of quality goals and moments of magic. In fact, there was a combined total of 72 shots over the entire tie.
In today’s game, it’s rare to see two star-studded teams slug it out on the biggest stage in that way, seemingly throwing caution to the wind and attacking with everything they have.
It was, in many ways, the perfect advert as to why the Champions League is such a popular and successful tournament.
It also bodes well for Bayern’s next game in the competition against defending champion Paris Saint-Germain in the semifinals, another team that is full to the brim with world-class forwards.
And while that tie will be one many neutrals will enjoy and look forward to, Real Madrid will be left spending the final weeks before the season ends pondering what needs to change to reign across Europe for an unprecedented 16th time.
