Eintracht Frankfurt lost the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 against SSC Napoli 0-2. Randal Kolo Muani saw the red card and will be suspended in the second leg. Mario Götze and Oliver Glasner felt the referee’s decision was too harsh.
The dismissal was “a killer” for the SGE, said Mario Götze afterwards Prime Video: “In the end you have to assess the whole situation, I think as a footballer. I mean, it was an offensive move by Kolo and of course it goes really fast. The other player also tries to tackle and those are seconds that decide.” It was “simply hard to give a red card in an offensive action”.
Oliver Glasner agreed with his player: “He plays the ball first and we had a similar situation recently. The referee explained to me: If he plays the ball first, it’s only yellow.” The foul was “not a red card” for Buta as well, as he revealed after the final whistle in the mixed zone.
After Kolo Muani bounced the ball too far, he hit his adversary with his open sole on the ankle. This contact was so intense and rough, argued referee expert Wolfgang Stark, that the red card was justifiable here, even though the Frankfurt player played the ball first.
Reason enough for Matthias Sammer to question the rules and their implementation. “Life takes place on the pitch and not in theory,” said the expert: “And that’s also what bothers me a bit about our referees in Germany at the moment. We need more personality, we need more feeling for situations and actions.”
For Kolo Muani, the Champions League season could have ended with it. After Eintracht lost 2-0 in the first leg, the starting position for progressing in the second leg is extremely bad. Accordingly, the Frankfurters also practiced optimism. So Götze asked in relation to the two goals from Naples: “Why shouldn’t we also succeed?” And Glasner also said that everything was still possible. You will not run up with white flags. A “1-0 in the 85th minute” would be enough to get back in the game, explained the coach. The second leg will take place in Naples on March 15.