1. FC Köln is raging after the 1:1 (1:1) draw at VfL Wolfsburg. The reason: a missed hand penalty. This is what those responsible said about the decision.
It was the twelfth minute of stoppage time in the first half. 1. FC Köln wanted to attack again and play for the second goal. Florian Kainz crossed from the right into the penalty area. But Moritz Jenz blocked it – with his right arm. Referee Sören Storks did not assess the situation as a punishable handball, and VAR Daniel Siebert also did not see a clear wrong decision.
1. FC Köln was beside itself. Cologne’s licensed player manager Thomas Kessler complained loudly and was shown yellow for it. Curious: It was his fourth yellow card as the man in charge on the FC bench. The former goalkeeper is therefore suspended for the next game. For the first time in Bundesliga history, a person in charge of a club other than the head coach saw the fourth yellow card in a season.
Kessler complains: “I’m very angry about that!”
But Kessler saw himself and the FC in the right. “That was the pinnacle of decisions today. I would really like to ask that some people look at it again, because I believe that in our situation it is important that little things are also looked at. I don’t understand why “There are no hand penalties,” complained the 38-year-old.
And further: “He has to whistle it, and if he doesn’t see it – and I would question that anyway because I saw it from 50 meters – it is incomprehensible to me that no signal comes from Cologne. That The defender clearly tries to head the ball, but can’t get it, and then the arm is away from the body. That’s a clear handball. That’s a clear wrong decision. That would have been 2-1.”
Kessler also confirmed that FC sought contact with Storks during the half-time break. But he dismissed it. “We spoke to him. His answer was that he didn’t know what we meant. He said: ‘What handball?’ That decided three important points today, and I’m very angry about that.” What Storks himself and the others involved said about the game:
That’s what the referee said about the handball
Referee Sören Storks: “I can understand it. What’s important to me is that it was checked and there was confirmation that it wasn’t a bad decision. If it’s clearly and obviously wrong, then I’ll walk out myself. But in this case Daniel came a long way I quickly received feedback that it was not a criminal handball. Of course I trust that.”
FC coach Timo Schultz: “If you look at the TV pictures, there have been many situations in the past in which something like this has already been whistled. That’s sometimes the crux of the matter: the referees make different decisions. I would also like to wish the assistant referee all the best . I hope that he recovers quickly. The replacement did really well. About the game: It was a deserved draw at the end. Unfortunately we couldn’t hold on to the lead for long. We were lucky and in the end Marvin Schwäbe, who gave us stayed in the game. It’s a good point for us, we’ve climbed one place in the table.”
“I definitely didn’t want to hit the linesman”
FC captain Florian Kainz: “That’s a point that we’re happy to take with us. It’s not easy in this situation in Wolfsburg against a strong team. On the whole, we defended well and had good transition situations with one or two scoring chances. In terms of our footballing approach “It’s quite good. It’s one more point, which is good for us in the situation. We have a good feeling from this game. Now we have a home game ahead of us, we want to get three points.”
FC youngster Max Finkgräfe: “Winning would have been possible, but we’ll take the point with us – we need every point. When it was 1-1, things happened pretty quickly for us, suddenly there were two opponents in front of me, which is difficult to defend. Of course it’s bitter, that they could get in front of the goal once in the first half and score the goal. Marvin Schwäbe kept us tied at the back. I didn’t want to hit the linesman under any circumstances. I wanted to hit my opponent so that we could get the ball. I did “I apologized directly to the linesman and will try again now. He was responsive, I actually thought it would move on relatively quickly.”