Lea Schüller scored the only goal as Bayern Munich clinched a narrow 1-0 victory over Arsenal at the Allianz Arena last night.
The German club’s UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final, first leg victory came in somewhat fortunate circumstances with Arsenal denied penalty appeals in each half while there was also a contentious goal-line debate.
UEFA have not made goal-line technology a mandatory requirement for fixtures in the latter stages of the UEFA Women’s Champions League while VAR is only used from the quarter-final stage. The rules regarding the use of technology in the competition is something which has left Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall frustrated.
“When we look at this competition and we’re thinking about taking the next step for it, it highlights a couple of issues,” Eidevall said when speaking in the post-match press conference. “One – VAR is only introduced in the quarter-finals, I don’t know if that VAR referee has ever used VAR before.
“Secondly, goal-line technology is something you can use at that stage of the competition, just like the group stage, but it’s not compulsory.”
Without the use of goal-line technology, Eidevall felt that last night’s result was unfair on his side following those dismissed penalty and goal appeals. He also criticised Bayern Munich for not implementing the use of goal-line technology when it was available, although opposing head coach Alexander Straus said that the question was never brought up to him.
He said “Today, goal-line technology was not in use because Bayern Munich chose not to pay for it. When we go to the Emirates next week, Arsenal choose to pay for goal-line technology because we think that’s the right thing to do to ensure a fair competition.
“I think it’s a problem for the competition that not every game has the same level of technology in helping the officials take the right decisions.
“It’s not Bayern’s fault. It’s within their rights to take that decision, but I think we can all agree it’s very weird that you play at a level in the competition and all of a sudden, it comes down to the host club whether you’re going to fund technology that is going to be used by both teams.”
Eidevall commented further on the problems that only having goal-line technology for one leg of a two-legged quarter-final could bring. Arsenal had several penalty appeals; one in the first half where Caitlin Foord had a shot blocked by the hand of Glodis Viggósdóttir, followed up by an alleged shirt pull on Rafaelle Souza. Stina Blackstenius then saw an effort cleared off the line during a scramble in the box.
Summing up his side’s evening, Eidevall added “Part of me is proud because I think the performance was really strong coming to the Allianz Arena. Part of me is disappointed with the result, that we can’t be more efficient with our chances. Part of me is angry because, obviously, VAR was not working in the arena tonight otherwise, it must be someone sitting there who is not looking at the pictures because it’s clear and obvious penalty situations – two of them. I think that’s unacceptable.”
The return leg takes place at the Emirates Stadium next Wednesday evening.
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