After Borussia Dortmund’s 2-1 away win against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday evening, several decisions by referee Sascha Stegemann caused a stir. The hosts were particularly enraged when Jesper Lindström missed a penalty. Stegemann himself admitted his mistake a little later – and explained why the VAR had not intervened.
In the 42nd minute, Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi hit Lindström with both hands in front of his own goal when he tried to convert a rebound from close range. The man from Frankfurt went down, but Stegemann didn’t whistle. Apparently the video assistant referee didn’t intervene either.
This fact drove SGE sports director Markus Krösche upset after the final whistle. “I wonder why we have this thing and then don’t use it,” he scolded sky. “That the referee makes a wrong decision – okay. But we have the video assistant. You definitely have to look at it, right?”
As the Hessen show reported, Krösche added a little later: The referee must, “if he doesn’t see it, finally ask. […] But that really pisses me off. We have this assistant, ask him. If you then change your mind, that’s okay with me. But that’s a joke. We don’t need it like that.”
Sebastian Rode agreed with Krösche: “The problem is that there is VAR and he has the chance to look at it again. If he does that… It’s a clear penalty. It’s a goal prevention, it doesn’t matter how hard he pushes.”
VAR trouble about Stegemann – referees “off the roll”?
Stegemann explained the situation at sky as follows: “On the pitch it was normal physical contact for me, I couldn’t see a clear foul. I took that to the VAR. The situation was checked there and not classified as a clear wrong decision.”
According to the television pictures and the existing camera perspectives, however, he had to “state that there should have been a penalty,” Stegemann admitted. The scene will be “worked up in the coming days”.
For Frankfurt coach Oliver Glasner it was not only a clear penalty, but also a red card. His conclusion: “Brutal when you see it.” However, he defended Stegemann: “The referees are the poorest. He waits for the signal from above and it doesn’t come.”
Ex-FIFA referee Manuel Gräfe, who officiated in the Bundesliga from 2004 to 2021, realized a bigger problem: “Some of the boys seem completely off the mark or disoriented,” he wrote on Twitter, referring to scenes in the game between VfB Stuttgart and FC Augsburg, or between FC Bayern and Mainz 05: “I’m curious when they fulfill their duty of care towards the referees and football at the DFB.”
BVB keeper Kobel: “It looks shitty”
Even on the Dortmund side, the protagonists knew that they could not have complained about a whistle. BVB match winner Gregor Kobel said after viewing the video images: “Yes, of course, it looks shitty.” Coach Edin Terzic said: “I rarely comment on the referee. But that’s one of the scenes I thought we were lucky about today.”
In the second half there was another situation in which the Frankfurters did not receive a penalty: Niklas Süle pushed opponent Mario Götze in the direction of Kobel when the ball was high in the direction of Kobel, who just jumped up to the ball. Götze collided with Kobel and fell to the ground. However, Stegemann decided on storm foul.
“I got a push from behind,” said Götze. “Why should I go into a duel against Gregor Kobel? In the end, Nikki doesn’t want to play the ball.” However, Götze admitted that the situation was “probably clearer” beforehand.
In this scene, Stegemann stuck to his assessment that it was not a situation “worthy of a penalty”: “It was more about the laying on of hands, the impetus is missing.”
