Didi Hamann encourages protest

Borussia Dortmund’s bitter elimination from the Champions League earlier in the week still reverberates days later. According to Dietmar Hamann, BVB was cheated of progress. The TV expert suggests choosing the protest form.

Despite a 1-0 win in the first leg, Borussia Dortmund had to give up after a 2-0 defeat in the second leg against Chelsea on Tuesday evening and bury their dream of reaching the quarter-finals. The main reason: A much-discussed penalty decision against BVB.

Referee Danny Makkelie gave the penalty shortly after the start of the second half after the intervention of the video referee. Dortmund defender Marius Wolf had the ball in his hand, but the shot was fired at short notice, the 27-year-old’s arm was laid out. A typical “can-decision”, which Makkelie interpreted to the detriment of Dortmund and pointed to the point. A circumstance that annoyed Dietmar Hamann.

“As for Dortmund’s elimination, I have to say clearly: BVB was cheated. Whether Dortmund would have progressed against Chelsea without the repeated penalty is anyone’s guess. But it was never a penalty and VAR shouldn’t have intervened because the referee was standing five meters away,” explained the TV expert in his column on “Sky”.

“The VAR shouldn’t have sent out the referee and Makkelie shouldn’t have changed his mind because it wasn’t a penalty. And the VAR shouldn’t have ordered the penalty kick to be retaken,” continued Hamann, who even consulted the rule book. Accordingly, Salih Özcan’s slightly earlier run into the sixteen should not (also) have led to the repetition of the (first) penalty that Chelsea Kai Havertz had missed in the first instance.

Hamann: “A huge chance” was taken away from BVB

In any case, Hamann advised BVB not to let the whole thing sit on its own. “I don’t want to delve too deeply into sports jurisdiction, but my question would be why there is no way to protest if there is a clear violation of the rules? Maybe someone should do it,” the 49-year-old sent an appeal to those responsible at Borussia.



The reason for this is obvious to Hamann: “BVB was denied a huge opportunity to reach the quarter-finals. Who knows when this opportunity will arise again?”

Although there are still some great calibers, there are also beatable teams. “Frankfurt showed last year in the Europa League what is possible when a team is on a roll or gets drunk,” said Hamann. BVB has now been deprived of this opportunity.

Referee experts had previously classified Makkelie’s decision – unlike Hamann – as conforming to the rules.

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