New Bundesliga match day, new excitement about referees and video assistants. Hertha BSC rages shortly before the end because of a hand penalty that was not given, but referee Brand defends his decision. VfB Stuttgart is angry because of an alleged swallow by Joshua Kimmich.

Referee Benjamin Brand vehemently defended his decision not to award a penalty in the 82nd minute of the Bundesliga match between Hertha BSC and Bayer Leverkusen (2-2) after an alleged handball by Bayer defender Odilon Kossounou. He no longer watched the scene on the sidelines in the video replay, but stayed on the field with his first impression.

“I was in contact with the video assistant. He couldn’t show me any new insights that would have contradicted my perception on the pitch,” said the referee at Sky. He saw no unnatural arm position in the Ivorian, who grabbed the ball when Jean-Paul Boetius shot. Therefore, there was no further investigation of the scene. Brand emphasized that even after studying the TV images, he would stick to his decision not to award a penalty.

“The scene in the 82nd minute was a clear penalty for me,” said Hertha coach Sandro Schwarz on Sky: “Mr. Brand rated it differently on the field, that happens. But Mr. Jöllenbeck as a video assistant – that’s me It’s a mystery that he doesn’t even at least send the referee out to assess the situation. It’s insane to me.” Jean-Paul Boetius agreed with his coach: “I don’t know why the referee didn’t watch the penalty scene again. Actually a penalty from my point of view.”

There was also excitement in Munich. VfB Stuttgart defied FC Bayern to draw, but was not completely satisfied with the 2:2 in the end. The reason was a scene in the 52nd minute. Joshua Kimmich lost the ball to Chris Führich from Stuttgart when the score was 1-0 for the record champions in his own penalty area. The national player fell to the ground after the duel and complained about foul play. However, referee Christian Dingert allowed play to continue and Serhou Guirassy scored to make it 1-1 for VfB.

The Bayern stars then protested and the VAR also contacted Dingert. The referee looked at the scene again on the video screen and actually decided it was a foul because Führich pulled Kimmich’s arm very delicately. “We had a lot of trouble with the first VAR decision – and rightly so, I think. In my opinion, he can never take that back. He can’t even get the input. If he looks at it, he can’t take it back,” VfB sports director Sven Mislintat railed after the game at Sport1. He even raised the accusation of a Bayern “lobby” because the Munich team had already complained about a “regular goal” by Stuttgart in the 2020 season and the goal was then withdrawn.

“It’s an optional decision,” said Bayern head coach Julian Nagelsmann at the press conference after the game. “You can also let it continue. It’s just an interpretation of the rules, which he (the referee; ed.) made.” VfB trainer Pellegrino Matarazzo said: “The point is okay, I’m satisfied. We were called back two goals – one was not a foul, the other was certainly questionable.”

(This article was first published on Sunday, September 11, 2022.)