Matthias Sammer is considered one of the best German football experts. Image: imago images / Ulrich Hufnagel
Champions League
It was probably something like the scene that decided the game: shortly after half-time, Frankfurt’s Randal Kolo Muani put the ball a little too far in front of him and kicked his opponent, who got the ball just before him, on the ankle. The Portuguese referee Soares Dias immediately drew the red card for the star striker.
A few minutes later, Eintracht conceded the second goal and had no chance in the 2-0 defeat in the Champions League round of 16 against SSC Napoli in the first game.
Above all, Kolo Muani’s dismissal caused a lot of conversation after the game.
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Eintracht Frankfurt: Glasner and Götze express incomprehension
Mario Götze couldn’t understand the red card and then explained to Amazon Prime: “I find it hard to give a red card in an offensive action, but for me it’s not a smooth red card.”
His trainer Oliver Glasner, who remembered a scene a few weeks ago, saw it in a similar way. “The referee explained to me: If he hits the ball beforehand, it’s only yellow. So then it would only be yellow,” he said with a shrug.
While Kolo Muani is still on the ground, the referee shows him the red card. Image: IMAGO / Pupils
Amazon expert Matthias Sammer also agreed: “I’m a little more with Mario on the red card. Reasonable, no question. But I don’t know whether it has to be ‘acceptable’ at this level.”
In addition, he “didn’t like the referee anyway.” The BVB advisor explains: “I would have liked a little more finesse and not such an arrogant demeanor.”
Ex-Bundesliga referee explains decision
Former Bundesliga referee Wolfgang Stark, on the other hand, doesn’t think Kolo Muani’s red card was the wrong decision. He explains in detail:
“Several factors come together. On the one hand, a great intensity with which the Frankfurt player goes into a duel. And because he puts the ball too far forward, he tries to get to the ball with his long foot. He touches it completely short, but then he hits his opponent above the ankle. This so-called ‘point of contact’ indicates a red card.”
The fact that he played the ball briefly beforehand does not relieve him either. “The player is responsible for how he approaches the tackle. If he takes the risk of hitting his opponent in this way, there is a lot to be said for a red card.”
Sammer cannot understand the explanation
For Sammer, however, this is not a satisfactory explanation. “Life is not theory. Absolutely justifiable and also explainable for the referees, but life happens on the pitch.” Because Kolo Muani went to the ball and played it and “if the ball stayed in between, it might not hit his foot.”
And then Sammer launched another sweeping attack against the German referees. In addition to the controversial dismissal of Bayern’s Upamecano, there were once again numerous strange and debatable decisions by the Bundesliga referees and the video assistants last weekend alone.
“We need more personality, we need more feeling for actions that then don’t happen in logic at all”said Sammer. Because theory and practice don’t always go together on the soccer field.
Shortly after the words left his lips, Julian Nagelsmann knew that he had to calm things down as quickly as possible.
