Sammer: Referee "very arrogant": Why the BVB "scandal" is so complicated

Despite a 1-0 win in the first leg, Borussia Dortmund says goodbye to the Champions League.

Sammer: Referee "very arrogant": Why the BVB "scandal" is so complicated

Despite a 1-0 win in the first leg, Borussia Dortmund says goodbye to the Champions League. The 2-0 defeat in the second duel at Chelsea is not undeserved, but still makes waves after the final whistle. In the focus of anger: A controversial hand penalty and its repetition.

The all-important hand penalty made Borussia Dortmund mad. "The penalty and the repetition - that's a real scandal. I don't need a rule keeper," scolded BVB consultant Matthias Sammer as a TV expert on Prime Video, and he was tough on the Dutch referee Danny Makkelie: "For such There are constellations of personalities. Makkelie is a very, very arrogant person."

During the round of 16 second leg in the Champions League at Chelsea (0: 2), Marius Wolf stopped a cross in the penalty area with his hand. The body was turned away, but the arm and hand were in the path of the ball. Makkelie awarded the penalty and had it repeated after Kai Havertz' shot at the post because players ran into the penalty area too early. This is also technically correct.

BVB professional Emre Can didn't even have the slightest bit of understanding. "It was the referee's fault," he said, visibly upset. "I don't give a shit who ran in before! He hits the post, done, out." If Makkelie doesn't have the courage, "UEFA will just have to send someone else to Stamford Bridge. It's extremely painful that we're eliminated because of a referee." Star player Jude Bellingham was also extremely annoyed: "With every penalty, especially when the run-up is so slow, you have players who are already a meter or so in the penalty area," he said after the game. "I don't know what else Marius Wolf is supposed to do with his hand. That in itself was disappointing and that they then get a repeat is a joke to me."

In an interview with ntv.de, referee expert Alex Feuerherdt from Collinas Erben explains how complicated the situation surrounding the decision to take a penalty and the subsequent VAR intervention is: "UEFA is a little stricter when it comes to the unnatural enlargement of the body than in the Bundesliga. Wolf turns his body away, but keeps his forearm in the path of the ball with his hand open." A tricky decision, but absolutely justifiable for Feuerherdt.

The scene after Havertz's shot is different. The national team player interrupts his run-up (allowed), which causes several players to run into the penalty area. Including Dortmund's Salih Özcan, who finally cleared the ball that bounced off the post out of the danger zone. The VAR then intervened and Makkelie had the penalty repeated. According to the rule book, the video assistant is only allowed to intervene "if a defender who has advanced too early prevents an attacker from playing the ball and thus prevents a possible goal," explains Feuerherdt. "But Özcan didn't do that. Only Havertz was near him, but he wasn't allowed to play the ball that bounced back from the post because otherwise there would have been a double touch." After the post shot, no other player had touched the ball.

According to the international handbook, there was no reason for an intervention. But: "From a technical point of view, the repetition is still correct: if players from both teams run into the penalty area or the circle too early, a repetition is planned. Incidentally, it doesn't matter which player was in the penalty area too early first," says our expert. "If Makkelie had ordered a replay from the game, it would not have been objectionable." So there is at least a bitter aftertaste of the Dortmund bankruptcy, but at least not a scandal, which many a Black and Yellow had scented.