BVB: Mats Hummels with sharp criticism of VAR decision: “It’s a mystery to me”

BVB defender Mats Hummels spoke up after the controversial penalty decision in the 1-1 draw against VfL Bochum. He sees a fundamental problem with VAR operations.

Borussia was denied a penalty by referee Sascha Stegemann after a supposedly clear foul on Karim Adeyemi, and those responsible then expressed their anger. Criticism of Stegemann was then given by the DFB referee management, the referee himself said that he felt “crappy”.

“Unfortunately, a setback in the fight for the title for us,” wrote Hummels on Instagram on Saturday. However, I think we fully accepted the fight, only the accuracy in the last third and the effectiveness in front of goal were sometimes lacking.”

The game could have been won “even if the penalty was not given”, emphasized the central defender. He “didn’t want to make this situation any higher, after all, the penalty should have been converted first.”

While Stegemann had protected his video assistant Robert Hartmann, Hummels recognized a VAR problem: There were “a number of questionable penalties” in the current season, but this time he did not intervene in “one of the clearest situations in recent years”. That was “a mystery” to him.

After 30 of 34 games, BVB is two points ahead of Bayern in the table. Their home game against bottom Hertha BSC is still pending on Sunday (3:30 p.m.). With a win, Bayern would take the lead again.