Borussia Dortmund is eliminated from the Champions League - because of the referee, believes a national player. However, it would be more correct: Because the VAR may exceed his competencies. In any case, the trouble is great again.
What happened at Stamford Bridge?
The big day closes the stock of Borussia Dortmund GmbH
But it didn't happen because referee Danny Makkelie - parts of BVB are convinced - produced a "tangible scandal" (adviser Matthias Sammer): The Dutchman surprisingly repeated a controversial hand penalty. And in the second attempt, the German national player Kai Havertz scored decisively to make it 2-0. Shareholders will probably have to continue to wait for returns, UEFA's money goes to London, where - despite 600 million euros in transfer spending this season - they always have enough of it, even in the post-Abramovitch era.
How bad was it really what Danny Makkelie did to BVB?
It was the minutes around the half-time break that sealed the fate of BVB, shocked by an injury to Julian Brandt: First Raheem Sterling scored the deserved lead in the 43rd minute, then Danny Makkelie made his big appearance in the 46th minute: One A cross landed on Marius Wolf's arm from a short distance, and the World Cup referee initially decided against a penalty. But he corrected his decision. Questionable, but hand penalties are always the same these days. As a fan, as a player, as a football authority, you are too often at the mercy of the taste of the VAR, who interprets a complicated decision as a wrong decision.
So Makkelie made a "very tough decision" on the second try, as BVB coach Edin Terzic put it. Kai Havertz, German 100 million euro man in the service of Chelsea, ran up, almost stopped - and pushed the ball to the post. And now what Matthias Sammer considers a "tangible scandal" began: Makkelie had the penalty repeated because players from both teams had started into the penalty area while Havertz was running. And that caused a lot of trouble: "How can he give a second penalty, I just don't understand it. He hits the post, done," said international Emre Can on Amazon Prime Video and was annoyed with the referee: "It was him arrogant the whole game. We lost undeservedly because of the referee. He might be afraid of the fans, so UEFA should send another referee. It hurts a lot."
What particularly annoyed her at BVB: Three Chelsea players, most notably Ben Chilwell, started ahead of their opponents. When VAR called again, Makkelie had the penalty repeated, Havertz grabbed the ball again and did it better this time. Former FIFA referee Wolfgang Stark later clarified that there was no alternative to retaking the penalty – because Salih Özcan, who was one of the early starters, cleared the ball. Thorsten Kinhöfer, also a former FIFA referee, clarified to "Bild": "The repetition of the penalty is correct because Öczan runs into the circle too early and thus gains an advantage. The Chelsea player plays when a defender misses a penalty, if the ball is saved, it doesn't matter."
However, the explanations could not lessen the furor of BVB consultant Sammer: "The penalty plus the repetition, that's a real scandal. I don't need a rule guardian either. There are personalities for such situations. Makkelie is a very, very arrogant person." , Sammer complained on Amazon Prime Video.
The referee experts from “Collinas Erben” then also side with Matthias Sammer, at least in part – and of course base themselves on the rules and their required interpretation in a longer Twitter post. Because it's complicated and the VAR is to blame for the confusion again: "The IFAB manual says when the VAR intervenes if players run too early for a penalty kick," write the experts, referring to the rulers of the International Football Association Board. Intervention is possible if "a defender who runs too early prevents an attacker from playing the ball and thus prevents a possible goal. But Özcan didn't do that. Only Havertz was near him, but he didn't catch the ball bouncing off the post was allowed to play more because otherwise there would have been a double touch (no other player had touched the ball after the post shot)."
Because Makkelie initially decided to continue playing after the first penalty, "according to the IFAB handbook, there was actually no reason to intervene. From a purely technical point of view, the repetition is still correct: If players from both teams enter the penalty area or the circle too early run, a replay is planned. Incidentally, it is irrelevant which player was first in the penalty area too early. Nevertheless, a VAR intervention was not necessary here for the reasons mentioned. If Makkelie had ordered a replay from the game, it would not have been possible been objectionable (even if this rarely happens in practice.)"
Kinhöfer rates the penalty kick itself, which caused all the trouble in the first place, as correct: "The arm is away from the body. In today's interpretation of the rules, this is a punishable handball." Alex Feuerherdt from "Collinas Erben" also says: "In my opinion, this is at least a reasonable decision." But they don't have to come up with rules for the disappointed BVB, who lost again for the first time after ten wins in a row, after the disappointment of Stamford Bridge.
How was it in the stadium, Stephan Uersfeld?
Blue smoke on Fulham Road, yellow smoke on Dortmund block. When the Champions League is in town, the fans really get going. Also at the billionaire club Chelsea. Well ahead of the game at Stamford Bridge, the Blues stand there and fire their smoke. They are watched by policemen whose horses kick wildly and pass the street with their apples. Maybe that was the reason for the late start of the game. As is well known, BVB was held up somewhere just outside the stadium and arrived too late.
Unlike the Borussia supporters who couldn't wait to get into the stadium and got caught up in a few minor skirmishes with the law enforcement. Even if the fans of the blues stayed calm during long periods of the game, they provided magical minutes even before the kick-off with their Chel-SEA on the Hammond organ in Winston Wright's "The Liquidator". And because it's England, during the break an elderly gentleman with the handwritten number 38,822 on a piece of paper informed about the number of spectators. An anachronistic moment in the world of billions.
The fans in the stands, meanwhile, poured out their insults about the BVB players. They weren't bad. And then, as Chelsea headed towards the quarter-finals early in the second half, they called Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea and celebrated the VAR.
