That is rare: With four penalties or non-decisions in the last two Bundesliga matchdays, the DFB comes to the conclusion that wrong decisions were made. An action was “obviously wrong”, in other situations the VAR should have intervened.
After the controversial handball situations of the past two Bundesliga weekends, the DFB has admitted four wrong decisions by the referee teams. “We have analyzed the situations and will discuss the results again with the referees before the next matchday,” said Peter Sippel, the Bundesliga’s sporting director at the German Football Association. “The aim must remain to achieve the most uniform possible interpretation of the rules in order to be predictable for clubs, fans and, above all, for players.”
In the closing stages of the game between Hertha BSC and Bayer Leverkusen (2-2), Leverkusen’s Odilon Kossounou saved the ball from a Hertha shot with his arm – but there was no penalty. According to Sippel, the video assistant “should have intervened due to the clear images and recommended an on-field review to the referee”.
In the 1-0 draw of 1. FC Union Berlin at 1. FC Köln, there was a handball in the early stages after an alleged handball by Luca Kilian. “The defender’s arm movement does not represent an unnatural enlargement of the body surface,” said Sippel. The penalty decision was “clearly and obviously wrong, and the video assistant should have intervened”. Cologne’s Marvin Schwäbe saved the penalty.
The penalty that Werder Bremen saved in injury time after the 0-1 draw against FC Augsburg shouldn’t have happened either. The alleged handball came from Maximilian Bauer. “Here the defender is in a turning movement, without a clear orientation to the ball,” said Sippel. “The arms, although slightly removed from the body, are to be classified as a natural consequence of body movement.” The referee “decided on a penalty here, which is to be classified as clearly and obviously wrong”.
According to Sippel, Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 win against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on the fifth day of the game meant that BVB should have been awarded a penalty after a handball by Ozan Kabak. “After the cross ball, the left forearm goes out, in the ball’s trajectory and deflects the ball. Due to the movement of the arm to the ball, it is intentional and a penalty kick would be the logical consequence,” said Sippel. “Because the images clearly show this process, the video assistant should have intervened and given the referee the opportunity to take a second look at the situation and come to the right decision.”
