FC Bayern are through to the semi-finals of the Champions League after a spectacular 4-3 win over Real Madrid – but Josip Stanisic’s euphoria after the final whistle was limited. Although the defender was satisfied with the sporting result, he was clearly critical of a controversial scene involving Antonio Rüdiger
„We deserved to win the game,“ Stanisic initially made clear in the mixed zone and emphasized that advancing to the semi-finals was the most important thing. Nevertheless, the Croatian appeared visibly annoyed in the mixed zone – and there was a specific reason for that
Stanisic sees a clear foul – and hints at Rüdiger’s insult
Shortly before Real Madrid made it 3:2, Stanisic was brought down by Rüdiger. For him, it was a clear matter: „He sees that I’m coming and just walks into me.“ However, the whistle was not blown – and the scene led directly to Kylian Mbappé conceding a goal
But that wasn’t all: according to Stanisic, the incident was followed by verbal derailment. „A word was said, twice,“ he explained, adding: „Maybe he’s man enough to admit it.“
The Bayern professional deliberately did not want to give specific details, but made it clear that he was critical of the behavior: „I don’t want to say anything now because I’m not someone who wants bad blood. But I don’t think something like that is appropriate.“
Criticism of the referee too
In addition to the scene with Rüdiger, Stanisic also took aim at referee Slavko Vincic’s refereeing, particularly the yellow card against Eduardo Camavinga
„I don’t think the referee knew that he had already given him a yellow card,“ the defender speculated and questioned the referee’s tact in general: „The referees have lost a bit of sensitivity for the big games.“
Stanisic also explained his substitution at half-time in the context of the refereeing, saying that they didn’t want to take any risks because of his yellow card. „Kompany wanted to protect us,“ said the 24-year-old
Despite all the criticism, Stanisic did not want to fuel the discussions any further. In the end, all that mattered to him was the result: „The most important thing is that we won and are in the semi-finals.“
A sentence that shows that as angry as he was about individual scenes, FC Bayern have long since turned their attention to the future, where the next big challenge awaits with Paris Saint-Germain.