During the game, Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann (centre) clashed with referee Tobias Welz. Image: imago/ norbert schmidt
Bundesliga
What the talk show “Markus Lanz” is to politics, “Steelwerk Doppelpass” is to football. Every Sunday, the events of the match day are discussed in this context on Sport1, with the guests’ tempers reliably boiling up.
After Bayern Munich’s defeat by Borussia Mönchengladbach the controversial eighth minute dismissal of Dayot Upamecano was the dominant topic on the agenda. The responsible referee Tobias Welz also had his say in the section “Let’s ask the referee” – and was violently attacked by one of the guests.
“One-two” guest rumbles against the referee
Sports expert Waldemar Hartmann, who is notorious for his sloppy manners, assessed Welz’s decision, not to watch the controversial scene again on video from the sidelines, even as a “fit of arrogance”.
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Background: In the eighth minute, Bayern’s central defender Dayot Upamecano and Gladbach’s Alassane Pléa clashed in a running duel. Shortly before the Bavarian penalty area Upamecano Pléa grabbed his shoulder at full speed, whereupon the Gladbach professional fell to the ground and Tobias Welz dismissed the central defender. After a lengthy conversation with the video assistant, he let the decision stand.
Welz justified his decision and said that Pléa fell to the ground due to the contact on the shoulder, which is why Upamecano was the last man responsible for the emergency brake. Hartmann, on the other hand, insisted that the referee should have looked at the scene again himself.
Referee’s decision is controversial
The match official, however, stuck to his decision. He talked to his assistants for a long time, he explains. The video could not have given him any new insights. “This is a gray area decision and therefore absolutely irrelevant to the video evidence.”Welz underpins his decision.
Tobias Welz (left) sees himself exposed to criticism in the “double pass”.Image: www.imago-images.de / imago images
The full-time police officer also received encouragement for the decision from some other guests. Ex-soccer player and Dazn expert Sebastian Kneißl agreed with him and focused on Upamecano’s “unclever behavior”. Jan Christian Müller, journalist of the “Frankfurter Rundschau” and commentator Christian Strassburger also agreed with Welz’ judgement.
The former Bayern professional Stefan Effenberg, on the other hand, spoke of a wrong decision. Former Bundesliga coach Armin Veh found arguments for both sides.
Tobias Welz comments on Nagelsmann’s freak out
The topic that determined the game day even more was also discussed extensively in the show: Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann’s verbal slip. While moderator Florian König wanted to urge Tobias Welz to make citable statements, he remained diplomatic.
He had a “discussion at eye level” with the Bayern coach in the dressing room, saying that “everything was fine”. He didn’t notice anything about the insults, and he wasn’t spoken to directly either. “What happens in the dressing room, stays in the dressing room”sums up Welz.
Expert Waldemar Hartmann criticized referee Tobias Welz in the “double pass”.Image: imago sport photo service / Müller-Stauffenberg
Waldemar Hartmann, who occasionally described the VAR as a “job creation measure for retired referees”, was able to wring respect for the 45-year-old’s composure. The fact that Welz had ignored Nagelsmann’s words and that he was not following him now was “very cool”, according to Hartmann.
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