Referee Sascha Stegemann clearly and openly admitted in the Sportschau/WDR2 interview that he made a mistake in the draw between Bochum and Dortmund. It was about a missed penalty for BVB.
After the heavy criticism from those responsible in Dortmund of the team of referees around Sascha Stegemann in Borussia’s 1-1 draw at VfL Bochum, the impartial error was admitted. He got into that one scene “didn’t make the right decision”said Stegemann in the program “Liga Live” in conversation with WDR reporter Sven Pistor.
The referee spoke of “one short night” and “a bad feeling the next morning”. Specifically, it was about an unpunished foul by Bochum’s Danilo Soares in the penalty area on national player Karim Adeyemi in the 65th minute.
Referee Stegemann: Looked like “a wanted contact”
In the scene in question, Soares tried to straddle the ball but missed it, Stegemann said. He saw it that way too. Nevertheless, it looked to him as if Adeyemi had gratefully accepted the contact. “He looked like a wanted contact and a wanted penalty to me”, according to Stegemann. That’s why he gave up the whistle: “But when I see the TV pictures, I have to say very clearly that it wasn’t the right decision.”
Video referee Robert Hartmann watched the scene, reports Stegemann: “But he came to the conclusion that it was not a clear and obvious mistake and therefore did not recommend that I watch the scene again from the sidelines. In retrospect, it would have been better to take a look again.”
Stegemann protects VAR
Above all, the non-intervention of the VAR in the so-called “Kölner Keller” was the focus of criticism. Stegemann explained that he had the right to solve such scenes on the field himself: “And of course you shouldn’t forget that there are only people in Cologne who naturally make mistakes.”
DFB also admits mistakes
The DFB has also admitted a mistake by the referee. A statement published on Saturday said: “He doesn’t play the ball, instead he only hits the opponent and brings him down. That’s a foul and therefore a penalty, as the TV pictures show.”
Dortmund’s coach Edin Terzic and sports director Sebastian Kehl had mainly complained that Stegemann had not watched this situation and other controversial scenes again in the video on Friday evening. “The expectation must remain that such events will be decided correctly by the referee on the field without the need for support from the video assistant,” wrote the German Football Association.
Probably no handball in the penalty area
Dortmund were also upset about two other situations. Before Bochum made it 1-0, they saw a foul on BVB midfielder Emre Can. The DFB did not comment on this scene. In addition, Borussia had demanded a hand penalty after VfL defender Erhan Masovic got the ball in the penalty area.
The sporting management of the DFB Schiri GmbH commented on the situation as follows: “The defender tries to block a shot with his right leg in front. But the ball goes against the left leg and over the upper body to the left upper arm, which the referee does not classify as an unnatural enlargement of the body surface in this sequence of movements, but as one natural movement to support the body during the fall movement. This assessment of the process by the referee is understandable from the point of view of the TV pictures.”