Monday, April 5th, 2021
“Collina’s heirs” are satisfied
Referee curiosity only in Austria
By Alex Feuerherdt
The referees put the games on the Easter weekend well and quietly on the stage, although some games are full of explosiveness. In the game between Leipzig and Bavaria, the referee shows a lot of understanding of the game. Meanwhile, there is a curiosity in Austria.
It was a game day with a whole series of games that promised to be explosive: There was the encounter between the runner-up against the leader, a possibly decisive game for fourth place in the Champions League, a test of strength with potentially trend-setting character in the relegation battle and Finally, the local duel between the two capital city clubs. Such tasks are also special challenges for the referees, and it is therefore logical that the sports management of the referees in paid German football around Lutz Michael Fröhlich sent some of their best workers to these hot spots.
To anticipate: the referees did their job noiselessly and well on this Easter weekend and nowhere were the focus of the discussion. The video assistants, who had been criticized on several weekends at the beginning of the year, also fitted into the more than decent overall picture. In the top match between RB Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich (0: 1), for example, the careful and safe referee Daniel Siebert convinced with a pleasantly long leash in the duel assessment, which the two playfully strong teams also accepted. The fact that the game master allowed a lot of physical activity helped the flow of the game and the intensity.
If the borders were exceeded, the referee from Berlin intervened consistently. For example, Nordi Mukiele’s rude tackle against Munich’s Lucas Hernández after 26 minutes, which was rightly punished with a yellow card. Some viewers even wondered whether a dismissal would not have been appropriate, but the foul was just inconsiderate and not brutal: Although the Leipzig tackled from behind, he hit Hernández without particular intensity and not with the open sole, but only with his shins – and not on particularly injury-prone parts of the body.
It was also correct to only warn Dayot Upamecano after an hour. It is true that the Leipzig central defender, who is moving to Bayern after this season, first tactically fouled Leroy Sané in an attack by the record champions and then brought Kingsley Coman to the ground in a rustic way. The fact that the total was not yellow-red was due to the fact that in the case of purely tactical offenses, the warning does not apply if the referee applies the benefit determination. So it was in this case because the Munich team remained in the attack. It would have looked different if the foul on Sané had also been ruthless: Then Upamecano would have been given a yellow card and then a yellow-red card in one go.
Gräfe is generous as usual
As usual, Siebert’s colleague Manuel Gräfe also acted generously in the clash between Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt (1: 2) and thus in the game of two contenders for a place in the Champions League. Twice there were tricky situations in the BVB penalty area: first in the 40th minute when the ball jumped into Thomas Delaney’s hand. Gräfe allowed the game to continue, but on the advice of his video assistant, looked at the scene again in the review – and then stuck to his original decision.
At least that was understandable. Because Luka Jović, who was posted directly in front of Delaney, deflected the ball decisively at the last moment, the ball underwent a change of direction that was not expected for the Dortmund player, to which he could no longer react. Only then did the handball come about. Until the falsification, the arm and hand were not necessarily in a position that would have to be assessed as unnatural or too far away from the body. In any case, the referee had a margin of discretion which he used to avoid a penalty that was not strictly necessary.
In the basement duel, three coaches are warned
Shortly after the break, he decided against a penalty whistle when Erik Durm from Frankfurt went down after a foot contact by Mats Hummels in Dortmund’s sixteen-meter space. Gräfe had seen the process from a favorable perspective and rated it as not worthy of punishment, in which one could follow it: The contact was rather fleeting and not without a doubt decisive for Durm’s fall. A penalty decision would not have been absurd, but it would have been so tough that it would not have been right in line with Graefe’s line in the duel assessment. In the end, it should have made no difference to Eintracht: They won this important game.
In the basement duel between 1. FSV Mainz 05 and Arminia Bielefeld (1: 1) there was a novelty in the history of the Bundesliga: For the first time, three team officials saw the yellow card. First of all, referee Deniz Aytekin cautioned Bielefeld coach Frank Kramer after 55 minutes when he was angry with his team after the penalty whistle. The decision was the right one, because Mike van der Hoorn hit Mainz’s Jonathan Burkardt in the leg when he took a shot on goal. In stoppage time, Mainz goalkeeping coach Stephan Kuhnert and the hosts’ chief coach, Bo Svensson, were hit. The sovereign FIFA referee after the final whistle was not an issue.
In the meantime, Sascha Stegemann was given the task of leading the last game of the match day with the Berlin local fight between 1. FC Union and Hertha BSC (1: 1). In fact, it was more of a fight, what both teams offered, and for a long time what the sarcastic phrase “not subject to amusement tax” seems appropriate. There was a lot of nodding in the duels, a lot of lamentation and shouting, the atmosphere on the field and on the benches was quite tense, and some arguments shouldn’t have happened. But Stegemann did not let himself get infected by the hustle and bustle and kept a cool head even in heated situations. Again and again he tried to calm the agitated minds.
It was appropriate that, after almost half an hour, the use of the Herthaner Matteo Guendouzi’s arm against Grischa Prömel was not assessed as violent, but only as ruthlessness. Because Guendouzi’s actions were not violent or even brutal, a striking movement could not be made out, and Prömel, who had previously treated Guendouzi with his arms, unnecessarily exaggerated the consequences of the hit. Because he then delivered a verbal skirmish with several opponents, he saw the yellow card as well as his opponent. This set a stop sign, even if Union grumbled about the warning.
Austria: “Eggnog” instead of tossing a coin
The fact that Guendouzi received a penalty a few minutes later when he fell in the home team’s penalty area after an awkward kick by Marvin Friedrich is okay. The same applies to the other yellow cards that were given for rustic foul games. If two teams try to act rather than play a neat ball, and also constantly react in a bad mood to decisions, a referee cannot shine. But he can remain level-headed and predictable, implement unpopular measures and try to smooth things over. Sascha Stegemann did just that.
Meanwhile, there was a curious scene in the Austrian women’s Bundesliga match between Neulengbach and St. Pölten (2: 3) on Easter Sunday: Referee Marina Aufschnaiter did not throw a coin as usual to determine who has the choice of sides and who May kick off. Instead, she gave each of the two visibly amused captains a colorful Easter egg and asked them to “pork eggs”. The two tips of the eggs are pushed against each other, and the winner is whose egg remains intact. In this case it was Jasmin Eder from St. Pölten – whose team also won the game afterwards.
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