Thierry Henry had Kate Abdo in stitches after comparing the refereeing controversy at the end of Bayern Munich’s defeat by Real Madrid to a scene from Pretty Woman.
Bayern were knocked out of the Champions League in the semi-final second leg on Wednesday night after Real came from behind to claim a dramatic 2-1 win. Alphonso Davies curled in a stunning opener to put Bayern ahead before Joselu came off the bench to score twice in three minutes to seal the comeback.
But there was controversy at the end after the linesman’s flag denied Bayern what could have been an equaliser. Matthijs de Ligt rifled in but only after Szymon Marciniak’s whistle had been blown, despite the rules stating that officials should let play continue in such situations.
Thomas Tuchel said he felt “betrayed” by the call, while De Ligt, Thomas Muller and Bayern director of sport Max Eberl all voiced their anger. Former Arsenal striker Henry was on the CBS Sports panel for the post-match discussion, which he took in a very different direction.
Asked if he understood Bayern’s frustration, Henry replied: “One million per cent. My view of it at the time wasn’t so much on the linesman, because I’ve seen it before. I’ve seen linesmen doing that (putting their flag up), but the big man (referee) takes the decision, always him, he is the chief. Why did you blow your whistle? Just let it go. You have something that can tell you if there’s an offside or not. Christina [Unkel, CBS’ rules analyst] has said it already: massive, just like in Pretty Woman, huge mistake, huge.”
For those not familiar with the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman, Henry was referring to a scene in which Julia Roberts’ character berates a sales assistant in a clothes shop, describing her behaviour as a “big mistake, huge”. The reference was not lost on Abdo, but it flew over the heads of fellow pundits Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards.
After an awkward pause, Carragher gamely tried to continue the football chat with: “No, it is a massive mistake. What Christina said about officials at this level – you know they are going to be the best – but to explain that these are actually seen as the best…”
But Abdo could not hold it together, bursting out laughing before saying: “Sorry, I’m so thrown by you quoting Pretty Woman…” Henry added: “A ‘huge mistake’, the bags, you remember? You don’t know? OK, let’s go back.” Carragher admitted: “You’ve thrown me a bit there.”
The tone of the chat was a long way from the tone of the backlash from those of a Bayern persuasion. “There was a disastrous decision from the linesman and the referee,” Tuchel said. “It feels like a betrayal in the end. There was a huge fight, we left everything on the pitch and we were almost there. Now we say congratulations to Real Madrid. The linesman says sorry but that does not help.”
