Swap breakdown has repercussions
Freiburg objection leaves Bayern Munich worried
4/4/2022, 6:40 p.m
Bayern Munich clearly won the Bundesliga game at SC Freiburg 4-1. For a few seconds, however, twelve players are on the pitch. An embarrassing mishap or reason for a defeat at the green table? The people of Breisgau lodge a protest, now the sports court has to decide.
Freiburg is going to the sports court, the strange mistake in substitution has an aftermath – and the championship could become even more exciting: Bayern Munich is threatened with the deduction of three points after its embarrassing breakdown. Shortly before the deadline, the Breisgauer appealed against the rating of the game. Now the sports court of the German Football Association (DFB) has to decide on possible consequences.
SC Freiburg emphasized that they were in a “dilemma through no fault of their own”. The situation forces the club “into an active role” in which it has no interest. One motive for the objection is to create “legal certainty in comparable cases” for the future. In addition, it is about the “perception of overall responsibility for the club in economic as well as sporting terms.”
But the chances of success of the protest are uncertain. On the one hand, there is the surprising gray area in the rules. Even experts were unsure whether the football rules of the DFB or the legal and procedural rules of the association should be applied in this case. The question remains whether the sports court blames the referee team around Christian Dingert or the Munich team. Referee instructor Wagner sees the responsibility at Dingert.
Master race open again?
The chances of success are still manageable. “Normally, he or someone from his team should have made sure before the game continued that the number of players was correct. He didn’t do that and it’s a mistake by the referee,” said the 58-year-old in an interview with Spox and Goal. “FC Bayern is not responsible for the substitution process,” added Knut Kircher, who was used as a referee observer in Freiburg at SWR.
“We are convinced that the DFB sports court can only come to one decision according to the applicable regulations: The rating of our 4-1 victory is preserved,” said Michael Gerlinger, Vice President Sports Business and Competitions at Munich after Freiburg’s announcement.
If a point were deducted, the record champions in the table would be “only” six points ahead of their closest rival, Borussia Dortmund, and the door to a real champion’s race would open a little again. If the points were awarded, Freiburg would catch up to RB Leipzig in fourth place in the Champions League.
In the 4-1 win, Munich played with twelve men for 16 seconds in the 86th minute after Kingsley Coman failed to leave the field in time in a double substitution. Bayern team manager Kathleen Krüger had previously held up a wrong jersey number. “The board is a support and therefore an aid. Something like this can always happen, and again: In the end, the referee is responsible,” said former referee Wagner.
Prank mad
In addition to the ambiguities in the rules and the question of guilt, there is also the fact that the majority had no influence on the final result. Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann said he didn’t see anything “decisive in the game”: “Mistakes happen. From the point of view of both teams and fair sport, there was nothing that spoke against a fair game.”
Freiburg coach Christian Streich was enraged that the SC had to become active itself for investigations by the sports court: “There are rules. We are subject to them and then we act,” said the 56-year-old: “I don’t understand this objection .”
In the moral dilemma between exhausting all legal options to increase the chances of winning the Champions League millions and the risk of being a bad loser, the SC decided to take legal action and the possible windfall. “We have absolutely no interest in this active role, which we were given against our will in terms of procedural technology, and we feel extremely uncomfortable in it,” said the Freiburg team. This makes Bayern’s changeover breakdown before the sports court a precedent.