Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos has admitted that he thought RB Leipzig’s early disallowed goal during Tuesday night’s Champions League clash should have stood.
Benjamin Sesko had the ball in the net for Leipzig only a couple of minutes into the game in Germany. A VAR intervention to double check a flag raised after Sesko had headed in following a corner resulted in it being ruled out, with the eventual justification being that Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin was impeded by a Leipzig player in an offside position – rather than a foul.
In an honest assessment on Prime Video Germany coverage, Kroos conveyed his opinion that Madrid got away with one as he saw it as a fair goal.
“I think in the end [the officials] called offside because [the player] got in [Lunin’s] way, but the goalkeeper couldn’t reach the ball and that’s why the goal had to be given,” he said.
“You can’t argue any other way.”
Without the injured Jude Bellingham, Madrid did eventually go on to claim a 1-0 win courtesy of Brahim Diaz early in the second half and take that aggregate advantage back to Spain for the return leg at the Bernabeu on 6 March. As such, they are firm favourites to advance to the quarter-finals.
That early Leipzig goal being allowed to stand could have changed the course of the tie by giving the German side a boost straight off the bat. Lunin, who was Madrid’s standout player thanks to repeatedly denying Sesko, was also massively responsible for having a small aggregate cushion.
