In Frankfurt, BVB suffered their third defeat in a row. So the Dortmund crisis continues. After the final whistle, the Westphalians struggled with two penalty scenes while referee Daniel Schlager explained himself.
“In the end it’s a result sport and we couldn’t get a result,” said Pascal Groß after the 2-0 defeat DAZN and regretted that BVB had not rewarded themselves for a good second half. In this context, he also referred to “one or two tricky penalty scenes” that could “turn a game like this around.”
Scene 1, minute 77: Collins to Gittens
In the 77th minute, Jamie Gittens sprinted into the penalty area at great speed and went into a duel with Nnamdi Collins, who looked as if he couldn’t quite keep up with the pace. Collins then took a step towards the opponent and pushed him away with his hip. Referee Daniel Schlager allowed the game to continue.
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01/17/25 – 1:00 p.m
11:10 minutes
For Groß it was the “classic. The defender wants to punt”, Gittens pokes the ball away again and “it only hits the man”. Emre Can expressed it much more clearly, as he had absolutely no understanding of the referee. “If you go into the box at 35 km/h – how can you not give a penalty? How does that work? You have to have the courage here in Frankfurt too, go out and watch the scene. I told him: Please get out and look at it. I don’t understand it.”
And it was also clear to sports director Sebastian Kehl. After being asked about the scene, he said that he didn’t want to address it “proactively” because “I don’t want it to seem like we’re complaining to the referee. But when I see this situation, it’s clear Foul. I don’t know what the video assistant referee did again today. That’s a clear situation that he has to look at and also a penalty.”
Referee Schlager comments
Referee Daniel Schlager, in turn, confirmed that the VAR had also looked at the scene and then confirmed it in its assessment. But first he described the situation as he saw it: “For me it’s a running duel between the two players. It’s a robust behavior from the defender who is trying to get into a better position.”
Schlager also admitted that he had seen “the contact”, but then a question arose: “Is the contact sufficient cause for the falling? I had great doubts about it. For me it wasn’t the cause, so I decided to let the game continue.”
-Did the VAR turn on?
The 35-year-old also showed understanding for Dortmund, who would have liked a penalty. “That’s life as a referee. For me it wasn’t enough to make the final decision about a penalty.” And with regard to the VAR, while he emphasized that it was his game and his decision, he also revealed that there was contact. After he had described his view of things, the video assistant checked the scene from different camera positions and confirmed his opinion, so “there was no reason to intervene.”
In this context, the referee also referred to the DFL philosophy that they want to strengthen field decisions, because “ultimately, we only want to intervene in clear and obvious wrong decisions. That wasn’t the case here for the video assistant either, which is why he has mine Decision confirmed in the end.”
Szene 2, Minute 85: Theate an Guirassy
Clear hold, but not enough for a penalty? Theates plucks Guirassy.
IMAGO/Jan Huebner
The second tricky penalty scene came in the 85th minute when Serhou Guirassy sprinted to the penalty spot after Adeyemi’s pass and was thrown off balance by Arthur Theate with a short hold on his right shoulder. Even then, the referee’s whistle remained silent. “Serhou is closer to the goal,” explained Groß, also acknowledging that the Frankfurt player “doesn’t take a long shot, but when he’s free in front of the goal, it’s a decisive move.”
Schlager also explained that he had seen “the really short hold”, but in this scene he “didn’t see it as the cause of the player Guirassy going to the ground.” Of course it would look worse, “if you show slow motion – and then as slowly as possible. Then the hold looks longer.” For Schlager, however, it is clear that hardly anyone would call for a penalty if they saw the scene “in the live image without slow motion.” There, too, there was “again nothing clear and nothing obvious” to punish for him. “Definitely no penalty.”
Kehl, on the other hand, had also noticed that Guirassy had taken off very slightly and one could have said that he could have stayed up “a little longer”. But in his opinion that doesn’t change the fact that “there is also a clear holding there. This situation has definitely been whistled in the history of the Bundesliga. These are the little things that make things go a long way.”
In the end, the Dortmund team has no choice but to be annoyed by the lack of luck in the game – or as Groß said: “If things go badly, then you won’t get whistled for things like that.”
