The German Football Association (DFB) has admitted two wrong decisions by the referee team in the 3:3 (1:2) draw between Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund.
In addition to Dortmund’s Marius Wolf’s hand penalty, the missed penalty whistle after BVB goalkeeper Alexander Meyer’s foul on Frankfurt’s Omar Marmoush was also incorrect, said Peter Sippel, sporting director of the Bundesliga referees.
“The fact that Wolf’s arm is spread far away from his body initially suggests a punishable handball,” said Sippel: “But in this case, the Dortmunder’s attempt to free himself is based on a normal sequence of movements. The left arm swings back swinging on the outside is to be regarded as natural, therefore there is no unnatural enlargement of the body.”
According to Sippel, the BVB defender did not act intentionally or negligently, “he doesn’t want to stop the ball, but rather move it out of the penalty area.” Therefore the handball is “not punishable”.
However, referee Robert Schröder should have given a penalty in the 36th minute, “since the pictures show a foul by Meyer on Marmoush”.
Second BVB goal in accordance with the rules
However, the goal to make it 2-2 by Dortmund’s Youssoufa Moukoko, in which teammate Niclas Füllkrug was in an offside position near SGE goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, was justifiable.
The national striker “is not in the keeper’s line of sight and he is not clearly taking action,” said Sippel. The decision is therefore “acceptable”.
The fact that the VAR did not intervene after Frankfurt’s Hugo Larsson briefly stopped Nico Schlotterbeck in stoppage time was also the correct decision “due to the lack of clarity”.
Here, Schröder did not whistle for a foul on the field.