Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale has slammed the decision by the referee not to award him a penalty early on in the 2-0 loss to Wolfsburg.
Ricardo Rodriguez and Maximilian Arnold scored the goals that gave the Bundesliga side a shock first leg win over the 10-time Champions League winners but it could have been so different had big calls gone Real’s way in the first half.
Cristiano Ronaldo had the ball in the back of the next early on with the score still at 0-0 but the strike was ruled out for offside. Replays showed the 31-year-old was clearly onside. Meanwhile, Bale was bundled over in the penalty area but the appeals were waved away.
Speaking to BT Sports after the final whistle, Bale said the decisions were wrong but that Real would work hard to put things right next week.
“I’ve been told that it wasn’t offside, so there’s that, and right at the start of the game I had a clear penalty on me which wasn’t given,” he said.
He added: “I felt like I got the ball, got in front of him and got smashed over. For me, if it’s outside the box then it’s a free-kick so inside it’s a penalty. It’s obviously frustrating.
“Things haven’t gone for us tonight and maybe gone against but, no excuses, we weren’t good enough tonight and we have another game now to put it right and hopefully we can.”
