Wembley (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Germany manager Martina Voss-Tecklenburg said she was troubled by the decision not to award a penalty to her side in the first half of Sunday’s Euro 2022 final defeat to England.
Lionesses captain Leah Williamson escaped after the ball hit her hand in a goalmouth scramble with the score still at 0-0.
England went onto win a first ever major tournament in extra-time through Chloe Kelly’s winner after Lina Magull cancelled out Ella Toone’s opener for the hosts in the 90 minutes.
After a VAR check, Ukrainian referee Kateryna Monzul was not told to review her initial decision not to give a penalty.
“On this level at final of the European Championships this shouldn’t happen,” said Voss-Tecklenburg.
“I’d like to have a discussion why did no one look at it? This is something I would really like to ask. It happened to us today, but if it had happened to them I would feel the same. It really bothers me.”
Germany suffered a major blow even before kick-off when captain and top goalscorer Alexandra Popp was forced to pull out in the warm-up due to a muscle injury.
Voss-Tecklenburg said the Wolfsburg striker, who had scored six goals in five games in the tournament, had suffered the injury in training on Saturday.
“We tried everything. Yesterday at end of final training there were some problems, which we didn’t expect,” she added.
“This morning it looked a bit better but it was clear the decision had to be hers. I trusted her 1000 percent and today she said she couldn’t run or shoot properly.
“I have even higher respect to her to say that after such a special tournament, she won’t play a final. She is a great personality.”
German newspaper Bild called the final “another Wembley fraud”.
England’s only previous major tournament win in either the men’s or women’s game came in the 1966 World Cup with a 4-2 win over West Germany that is still remembered for the Three Lions’ controversial third goal that may not have crossed the line.
