UEFA finally admits to Euro 2024 refereeing MISTAKE insisting Germany should have been given a penalty vs Spain after Marc Cucurella’s handball during quarter-final

UEFA has finally admitted that Marc Cucurella’s controversial handball against Germany in the quarter-final of Euro 2024 should have been a penalty, according to a report from UEFA’s Referees Committee.

It was perhaps one of the most controversial moments of Euro 2024, with Jamal Musiala’s strike in extra-time appearing to make contact with Cucurella’s arm, while the Chelsea defender was stood inside the penalty area.

Almost immediately, referee Anthony Taylor was swarmed by German players, including Musiala, Florian Wirtz and Niclas Fullkrug, who led the appeals for a penalty.

The English referee did not take heed of their appeals, with VAR Stuart Attwell backing the official’s decision. Cucurella had appeared to have his left arm down at his side, away from his body, with Musiala’s goal-bound shot making contact.

Spain would go on to clinch a last-gasp winner to book their passage to the semi-finals of the tournament after Dani Olmo’s second-half strike had been cancelled out by Wirtz’s 89th-minute equaliser. In the 119th minute of extra-time Mikel Merino would seal the win, heading in a cross from Olmo. 

Referee Anthony Taylor (right) had turned down Germany’s penalty appeal and was backed by VAR Stuart Attwell

The boos came from German fans after he was not penalised for handball in Spain’s quarter-final win over the hosts

National coach Julian Nagelsmann subsequently hit out at the penalty decision while Cucurella was booed by home fans, but it seems, according to UEFA, the penalty should have stood.

Nearly two months after that match, UEFA’s Referee Committee has told international referees that there was an error and that Taylor should have awarded a spot-kick to Germany, according to Relevo. It adds that Attwell, the VAR, should have also intervened.

‘Following the latest UEFA guidelines, hand-to-ball contact that stops a shot on goal should be punished more strictly, and in most cases, a penalty kick should be awarded, unless the defender’s arm is very close to the body or on the body,’ the Referees Committee said on the incident in a report, per Relevo.

‘In this case, the defender [Cucurella] stops the shot on goal with his arm, which is not very close to the body, making itself bigger, so a penalty kick should have been awarded.

But the committee added that Cucurella should not have received a yellow card for the infringement.

UEFA’s Refereeing Committe have claimed that officials made a mistake during the match 

Michael Oliver awarded a penalty against Joachim Anderson during Germany’s game vs Denmark 

Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann (pictured) claimed Taylor ‘blew his whistle a bit in Spain’s favour’

German fans were left incensed by the decision not to hand Julian Nagelsmann’s side a penalty with the national side’s coach criticising the decision after the match.

Taylor was reportedly heard being ‘loudly insulted’ by Nagelsmann in his dressing room following the handball controversy.

A ‘teary-eyed’ German coach also insisted his side didn’t deserve to lose against Spain before calling for a revision of the handball rule.

‘There is a rule and I hope there is no wrong decision,’ Nagelsmann said after the match.

‘They applied the rule and it was not a penalty. I do not feel cheated. For me, the question is about making it more practical, more logical, in terms of how this [handball] rule is assessed. I say this for football [in general] not today. You look at the hand. If it is at 3 o’clock, if it is a bit higher or a bit lower. But there are people with bigger muscles than me, different movements.

‘I don’t understand why we don’t take into account what is happening with the ball. If Musiala kicks it towards Stuttgart centre and it hits the hand, I won’t say anything.

‘But it was going towards goal. And for me, you should look at where it is going. Is it going into the clouds or is it going in the goal? In one case it is a penalty, in the other, it is not. If it is going into the stands, then it is no penalty.

English referee Taylor (pictured) was been thrust into the spolight following a handball row at Euro 2024

Mikel Merino (centre) went on to score the winner in the dying moments of the second-half of extra-time

UEFA said: ‘In this case, the defender [Cucurella] stops the shot on goal with his arm, which is not very close to the body, making itself bigger, so a penalty kick should have been awarded’

‘The rule should be simpler. You can’t talk about intentions. You have to see where the ball is aimed. We have 50 robots that bring us our coffee so there should be an AI that calculates where the ball is going.’

Cucurella, meanwhile, insisted that he had done nothing wrong, after he was booed by German fans during Spain’s semi-final victory against France at the Allianz Arena.

‘These are things that happen, I’m not to blame for anything,’ Cucurella told Spanish radio station, Cadena Cope.

‘I don’t know what they were trying to achieve with that, but that’s the way it is.

‘The most important thing is that we’re in the final, and that’s it.’

On an initial analysis of the penalty incident, ESPN editor Dale Johnson gave his interpretation, revealing why officials had waved off appeals from German players.

Spain went on to beat England in the final at Euro 2024 to win their fourth European Championship

‘UEFA’s pre-tournament briefing on handballs gave a specific example just like Marc Cucurella, saying it should NOT be a handball penalty,’ Johnson posted on X.

‘It differs from the penalty Joachim Andersen conceded against Germany.

‘UEFA deems that arm position to be unnatural and creating a barrier. Understandable fans would think the two decisions are the wrong way around… But they aren’t per intended interpretation.’

Spain, though, would go on to beat England in the final of Euro 2024 and be crowned champions for the fourth time in the country’s history.