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Referee Christian Dingert drew attention to the twelfth man: Freiburg's Nico Schlotterbeck (scene from the game against FC Bayern Munich)
Photo:
IMAGO/Blatterspiel / IMAGO/Jan Huebner
DFB chief referee Lutz Michael Fröhlich also sees responsibility for the referees after FC Bayern made a mistake in Freiburg.
“It would have been good if they had checked again before the game resumed.
That would have been the best thing for the referee,” said Fröhlich of the German Press Agency.
What happened on Saturday was avoidable.
In their 4-1 win shortly before the end, the Munich team had twelve players on the field for a few seconds before referee Christian Dingert interrupted the match.
The wrong shirt number had previously been displayed when Kingsley Coman was substituted.
The Frenchman obviously didn't feel addressed and initially didn't leave the field after a double substitution.
Dingert recorded the events in his match report.
He spoke on the Sky TV channel of a “totally confused situation”.
Fröhlich also admitted: "It was very complex." Humanly, the confusion was understandable.
"But complexity or not: it's not nice that people talk about it at the end of a football game."
Zwayer: Probably no consequences for Bayern
It was initially unclear whether the German Football Association would intervene and check the game rating.
It is unclear which passage of the DFB rules would apply in this case.
Felix Zwayer, who was responsible for the game as video referee on Saturday, also said that the responsibility for a rule-compliant change lies with the referee team.
"In practice, in such cases, the task is left to the fourth official," said Zwayer on Saturday evening in ZDF's "Sportstudio".
This ensures that the player to be replaced leaves the field and lets the new player onto the pitch.
On Saturday, Freiburg's Nico Schlottbeck drew referee Dingert's attention to Bayern's superiority.
"The fourth official was already checking the number of players at the time," said Zwayer.
Zwayer does not expect consequences for FC Bayern.
"In my view, it cannot be compared to the situation when a player who is not in the game report takes part in the game," the referee continued: "In fact, the player who spends too much time on the pitch basically was an eligible player who was on the field at a time when he shouldn't have been," he explained: "It's in the football rules and not in the statutes how to deal with it and how to proceed."
sak/dpa