In the European Championship semi-finals, Spain was on the verge of defeat when Marc Cucurella blocked the ball with his hand in his own penalty area. The whole of football Germany called for a penalty. And the player could almost hear the penalty whistle, as he now explains in an interview.
Football Germany cannot let go of this moment. It’s about the much-discussed scene in extra time of the European Championship quarter-final against Spain, when Marc Cucurella clearly stopped a shot by Jamal Musiala with his arm when the score was 1-1 in the penalty area, but the English referee Graham Taylor allowed the game to continue . Instead of getting a penalty in overtime, the game went the other way. Spain won in the end.
In an interview with the Italian sports newspaper “Gazzetta dello Sport”, Cucurella was asked about the decisive moment in extra time when he received the ball on his arm, which was spread away from his body. The defense attorney admitted he was shocked. He said: “Mamma mia, what a shock. I peed my pants. Looked at the referee and saw him firmly say: ‘No penalty!'”
But Cucurella didn’t trust the roast in times of video evidence. He elaborated: “I told myself, ‘Relax,’ but I couldn’t until the game resumed.”
His fears were justified, as an analysis by the European Football Association (UEFA) showed. Three months after the game, the UEFA refereeing committee admitted in September that there had been a mistake and that there should have been a penalty for national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team.
Cucurella criticizes the regulations
The report said: “According to the latest UEFA guidelines, a handball that prevents a shot on goal should be punished more severely and in most cases a penalty should be awarded unless the defender’s arm is very close to the body or over the body. In this case, the defender stopped the shot on goal with his arm, which is not very close to the body, which makes it larger, so a penalty should have been awarded.”
Cucurella said: “And now they come and say it was a penalty: who benefits from that?” The real problem is “that there is an incredible confusion about the rule for a handball,” said the Chelsea professional.
At that time, the video assistant did not intervene. Instead, Mikel Merino shot the Spaniards into the semi-finals in the last minute (119th minute). In the end, the Iberians won the European Championship title, winning 2-1 against England in the final. And Cucurella was able to celebrate the greatest success of his career.
SUF
