Champions League
Collective anger at BVB – Sammer: “Don’t put up with it”
Dortmund’s Mats Hummels discusses with referee Srdjan Jovanovic after the penalty decision. photo
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
An angry advisor and an irritable defense chief. Although BVB maintains its quarter-final chance in the Champions League, frustration prevails. This time it’s not because of the team’s poor performance.
According to the former European champion, there are “too many decisions against German teams” in the Champions League. That’s why he refrained from using diplomatic words. “Borussia Dortmund is now taking its sixth questionable penalty against itself in the last two years. It’s about the meaning of the game,” complained Sammer on Amazon Prime.
In his initial anger, the former BVB professional and coach called for more collective resistance: “I would like to advocate showing more personality in the committees, naming things clearly, clearly standing up to people again, not putting up with it let”. Sammer added with a firm look: “This is not a penalty in the knockout competition in the sense of football, regardless of Borussia Dortmund, of Leipzig, regardless of other constellations.”
Defense chief Hummels blames frustration: “Zero percent penalties”
The much-discussed penalty also got an experienced veteran like Mats Hummels excited. After clear expressions of displeasure on the pitch, the Dortmund defense chief did not calm down again in the interviews minutes later. “Zero percent penalties. Zero!” complained the 35-year-old, “we are in a Champions League round of 16. You have to expect the highest level from the referees.”
During his risky tackle in his own penalty area, Hummels initially played the ball, but then also hit opponent Malik Tillman. PSV captain Luuk de Jong used the subsequent penalty in the 56th minute to deservedly equalize BVB’s lead through former PSV professional Donyell Malen (24th). “Tillmann was laughing his ass off on the pitch, they were all grinning at me for minutes,” Hummels said.
The fact that the VAR also shared the decision of the Serbian referee Srdjan Jovanovic caused additional displeasure for the 2014 world champion: “We are on the completely wrong path in this regard. Unfortunately, I have the impression that the VAR made the referees worse. I thought the referees used to be better.”
BVB coach points to other controversial decisions
Like Sammer, Edin Terzic also recalled similar incidents in the past: “This has been with us for a while. It is the third time that we are discussing the referee after a game in the knockout phase of the Champions League.” The coach probably meant the penalty whistles against BVB in March 2023 in the duel with round of 16 opponents Chelsea in April 2021 and in the quarter-finals against Manchester City.
“The anger is very great. When you have decisions like that against you that are not 100 percent correct, it hurts,” said Sebastian Kehl. The BVB sports director accused the referee of not watching the scene on the television set up on the sidelines for such cases: “He knows how important the game is. In that situation he could have watched it, perhaps even should have.”
Despite all the frustration over the penalty whistle, Hummels remained critical when assessing the team’s rather poor performance. “We should have had a lot more calmness with the ball here, we gave it away too quickly. I saw a beatable Eindhoven today,” he said before the nighttime bus ride to Dortmund, just 170 kilometers away.
The draw with the Dutch league leaders, who are coached by former Dortmund football teacher Peter Bosz, gave the Bundesliga fourth-placed team a reasonable starting position for the second leg on March 13, but it did not satisfy anyone. “There was a lot of uncleanliness, a lot of hecticness,” Kehl commented on the disjointed game with a lot of fight, but with a rate of bad passes that was unworthy of a round of 16 in the premier class.
Nevertheless, the sports director continues to believe that Borussia will reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2021: “The starting position is now clear. We still have one game left. We have to win it – no matter how. I am convinced that we can do it.”