Keeper Rafal Gikiewicz saved the penalty in stoppage time and then returned the favor at Bremen’s east curve. Even after the game he didn’t mince his words.
There were wild scenes that took place on Friday evening in the last minutes of the game between Werder and FC Augsburg in the Weser Stadium. After a handball by Maximilian Bauer, referee Martin Petersen awarded a penalty in injury time (90+1). The fact that the video referee then checked this scene again in detail fitted into the script of the evening.
However, the decision held and Marvin Ducksck was allowed to take the penalty kick. But before he could really shoot, another three minutes and 21 seconds passed, during which Petersen was no longer in control and the players danced all over his nose. Keeper Rafal Gikiewicz was even allowed to stand a meter away from the referee with impunity and damage the penalty spot with his cleats before the shot was taken.
Bremen fans storm into the interior
That’s one of the reasons why the Werder fans quickly got used to the Augsburg keeper. When Ducksch was then allowed to start, they gave Gikiewicz abuse from the east stand via megaphone and sentences like “You can’t hold him anyway!”.
However, that is exactly what Gikiewicz did. The Pole dived into the corner and parried Ducksch’s shot. It was his moment that evening when he also made a small return carriage.
Looking in the direction of the east curve, Gikiewicz held his index finger behind his right ear to ask what they had said a few seconds earlier. At the same time he indicated that they should go ahead with it. That alone was already too much for some Bremen fans, who could no longer control themselves and stormed into the interior from the east stand. Scenes that are likely to result in severe punishment. Gikiewicz, meanwhile, went after the game again against Bremen in an interview with “Dazn”.
Some Bremen fans stormed into the interior from the east stand in injury time because they couldn’t cope with Rafael Gikiewicz’s return carriage.
“They insult me in the second half, that’s my answer. That’s not respect, we’re just players. You can’t insult my family or me. I don’t accept that.” (Rafael Gikiewicz on “Dazn”)
“Do they think they win 4-0 or what?”
Niclas Füllkrug made it clear after the game that he didn’t like the pictures at the end of the game. “That was a bit too much for me. We still play football at the highest level. It should all be a bit civilized,” he said in the ARD interview. “The whole stadium got involved a bit with what Augsburg wanted.” Their behavior was “perhaps not very sporty”, but in the end they would have achieved their goal. Even if they have been to the referee for every decision with eleven players. Words from Füllkrug that Gikiewicz didn’t like either.
“I think Füllkrug just has to accept the defeat. They had eight points before the game. Do they think Augsburg will come, we’ll go out on the pitch and they’ll win 4-0, or what? (…) Now they can talk without end. I’m not interested in that.” (Rafael Gikiewicz at DAZN)
