Top 10 controversies of 2017

#3 Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich: A fixture to forget

Arturo Vidal received a controversial red card in the fixture

Real Madrid were definitely the team to beat last season, but they certainly weren't invincible. Bayern Munich came close to eliminating the Los Blancos but for a fixture marred with erroneous decision-making.

To start with, Real Madrid took to the Bernabeu as the leaders, after defeating Die Roten 2-1 at the Allianz in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals. In the second leg, however, Bayern fell prey to some terrible refereeing which denied them a chance to advance to the semi-finals.

To start with, Robert Lewandowski was wrongly called offside even after being followed in line by left-back Marcelo. The Pole was robbed of a clear goal-scoring opportunity since he was one on one with the goalkeeper at that juncture.

Next, it was Arturo Vidal's turn to suffer. The Bayern midfielder was awarded a second yellow for his tackle on Marco Asensio, although he had made contact with the ball first while the young Spaniard went to the ground.

That looked unjustified since referee Viktor Kassal had turned a blind eye towards Casemiro's horrendous challenge on Arjen Robben. A booking would have meant a red card for the Brazilian as he had already received a yellow card before.

Then, it was Cristiano Ronaldo who walked away with an offside goal in the first half of extra time. The linesman again failed to make the right call despite having a clear view of the goal.

As if that wasn't enough, the Portuguese forward outraged the Germans once again. Marcelo cut through Bayern's defence and with Neuer coming forward, he passed the ball to Ronaldo, who sent the ball into the empty net. However, the entire Bayern defence was behind him when he scored the goal, putting him clearly in an offside position. Real won the game 4-2 at the end of extra-time.

Thus, a hapless Bayern Munich crashed out in the quarter-finals when they could have easily gone through, if not for the careless officiating by the referees. Certainly, it might have been painful for them to see Real Madrid successfully lifting the title.