Jude Bellingham looked set to score a perfectly legitimate equaliser before the referee intervened
Jadon Sancho vented his frustration on Twitter as Borussia Dortmund were denied a certain first-half equaliser against Manchester City on Tuesday night.
The German club had fallen behind to Kevin De Bruyne’s opener in the Champions League quarter-final first leg, but were set to level the scores shortly before half-time when Jude Bellingham, impressive throughout, pounced when Ederson took too long on the ball.
Having knocked the ball beyond the City goalkeeper, the England international prepared to run the ball into an empty net only for match referee Ovidiu Haţegan to inexplicably blow up for a free-kick in Ederson’s favour.
Jude Bellingham has the ball in the back of the net vs. Man City… but the referee says no!
The teenager robbed Ederson of the ball, but play was pulled back for a foul. @jjenas8 thinks the hosts got away with one there… 😬 pic.twitter.com/hYLhvQojxX
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 6, 2021
Replays showed Bellingham, who was also booked for the incident, took the ball cleanly, but with the referee blowing his whistle before the ball had been rolled into the net, VAR could not intervene to approve the goal.
Sancho, who missed the game against his former club through injury, questioned Haţegan’s performance on Twitter. “This ref needs checking!” he tweeted, minutes after the incident.
This Ref needs checking! 🤦🏽♂️
— Jadon Sancho (@Sanchooo10) April 6, 2021
The referee had earlier awarded a penalty to City for a perceived foul by Emre Can on Rodri, despite there being little – if any – contact. On that occasion, he was urged to check pitch-side monitors by VAR officials and eventually reversed his decision.
Dortmund did eventually find an equaliser in the game through Marco Reus with six minutes to go, but City were able to reclaim the lead in the final minutes – Phil Foden ensuring City took a 2-1 lead to Germany for next week’s second leg.
KDB ➡️ Gundogan ➡️ Foden
A ice-cold finish from Phil Foden in the 90th minute to put Man City ahead going into the second leg…
Great vision from De Bruyne yet again! 🤤 pic.twitter.com/zlbXWB9cGF
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 6, 2021
