The game between Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt had a lot to offer, in addition to a lot of speed and two penalties given, there was also a crucial situation in which there was ultimately no penalty, which led to a lot of discussion.
Decisive scene: Jonathan Tah (left) brought down Hugo Ekitiké in front of the empty Leverkusen goal.
picture alliance / Jb-sportfoto
“If you see the scene, it’s a clear penalty,” explained Dino Toppmöller Sky after the narrow defeat in Leverkusen. “We prepare meticulously for a game like this all week. Then little things like that decide the game,” the Frankfurt coach continued. “Hugo (Ekiteké; Anm. d. Red.) is in the air, then contact comes from behind. As a result, he lost his balance three meters in front of the empty goal,” said Toppmöller, describing the scene in which Felix allowed Brych to continue playing – a clear wrong decision that would otherwise have resulted in a red card for Jonathan Tah in addition to a penalty.
In general, Toppmöller was not satisfied with the performance of Brych and his team on Saturday – although he actually appreciated the experienced referee, said the 43-year-old: “But the performance today, I’m a bit speechless. Unfortunately, not everyone was there Field in top form today. This game deserved that.” A few duel decisions against Eintracht – Mario Götze’s shirt was clearly pulled near the penalty area shortly before and Omar Marmoush’s shirt shortly after half-time, which Brych left unpunished – may have contributed to Toppmöller’s assessment.
Krösche: “It’s a penalty for me”
Kevin Trapp (“It’s clear that he extends his arm. It’s not a real push, but Hugo loses his balance because he’s high up in the air”) and Markus Krösche also waited in vain for a penalty whistle in the scene in question. “That at the end is just a classic scene in which you say: Look at it again. It wasn’t a great foul, but in the end it was enough to prevent the goal chance. For me it’s a penalty,” he said Eintracht sports director.
After the game, the Werkself were particularly happy to have kept their narrow lead over time. Lukas Hradecky was also happy in his 300th Bundesliga game, thanking his teammate Tah after his mistake: “He did well. I think he (Ekiteké; Anm. d. Red.) came up too early”, who himself said with a smile about a possible penalty that he “of course didn’t want to get a penalty against him so close to the end”, but actually didn’t believe that there was one.
Rolfes: “You can touch people”
Simon Rolfes did not see the performance of the referee team as one-sided as the Hessians. “I thought he had a line at the end where they both complained a little bit, but it didn’t go in one direction,” said the Werkself’s sports director, who also didn’t take a penalty in the scene between Tah and Ekiteké saw: “You can touch people. The game is not contactless, in the end both of them fall down.” Xabi Alonso also didn’t see the scene as a clear wrong decision, which is why the VAR didn’t have to intervene in the scene.
Robert Andrich also saw this too. There was “absolutely no way” it was a penalty. “He’s in the air too early, Jona gives him a good push in the air. Luckily we defended that away,” said the national player, who meanwhile, after looking at the video images, was tripped up by the penalty whistle against him against Marmoush in the first half: “Oh God! That’s definitely not enough,” said the 30-year-old, who particularly disagreed with Brych’s explanation. This was that after the penalty whistle against Frankfurt he also had to whistle in the scene against Leverkusen. “If you say foul, I’m fine. But as it is, I find it questionable.”
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