Bayern Munich’s Josip Stanisic said it was “stupid” of him to push a ballboy off his stool after he tossed the ball away in stoppage time of their Champions League match against Inter on Wednesday.
A 2-2 draw in the second leg at San Siro enabled Inter to advance to the semi-finals 4-3 on aggregate.
Bayern had been pushing for a late winner when Stanisic tried to get the ball back into play quickly, pushing the ballboy to the ground in frustration when he threw the ball away from him. The Inter bench leapt to their feet to confront the defender, who escaped punishment from the referee.
“Every team in the world wastes time when they’re leading,” Stanisic told the German newspaper Abenzeitung after the game. “It was a bit stupid of me to push him there.”
The Bayern coach, Vincent Kompany, reflected on the injury crisis that hit his side before the tie. Bayern were without a clutch of important players for both legs. “I think the big issue, before Inter, was injuries,” Kompany said. “We had to understand what we could do without [Hiroki] Ito, [Dayot] Upamecano, [Jamal] Musiala, [Manuel] Neuer, [Alphonso] Davies, [Kingsley] Coman, [Aleksandar] Pavlovic.”
Despite those problems, Kompany’s side gave a good account of themselves across both games and made Inter suffer, but they will not be a part of the final at their own Allianz Arena. “The harsh reality is that we will not play the Champions League final at home,” Kompany said. “We can’t change that. The other aspect is the performance; we know we have done enough to win these games.”
Inter won the treble in 2010, after beating Bayern to lift the Champions League and their coach, Simone Inzaghi, is on course to repeat José Mourinho’s feat. “It’s a beautiful evening, lived in our stadium, in front of our fans against a very strong team,” Inzaghi said.
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“We had to play two great games, putting everything we had. The boys were splendid; it’s a victory to share with the whole Inter world. We are moving forward in this long season that is giving us so many emotions.”