In the course of the discussions about the red card for Bayern defender Dayot Upamecano at the weekend in Mönchengladbach, former champion coach Felix Magath sees a fundamental refereeing problem in German football.
“People are not willing to talk about the fact that football in the Bundesliga is so ratted out by our referees. They whistle for every little thing. There is the statement: ‘Contact was there, so we whistle penalties.’ That’s more or less nonsense. Football is a sport where I have to make contact,” said Magath to the TV channel “Sky.”
Magath criticizes the group of referees
The DFB no longer has any relationship with sport. That’s the problem, according to the 69-year-old: “I’m not in the group of referees. This group controls itself completely independently. There is no instrument that says: ‘Wait a minute, referee, you could see it differently!’ No, they correct themselves. That’s the worst thing about a closed group controlling itself. Nothing useful can come of it.”
For Magath, Upamecano’s action, which made Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann so upset, was not normally a red card. “Basically, I say: That’s ridiculous! But the way the whistle has been used in the Bundesliga in recent years and months was completely correct,” said the two-time runner-up.
In fact, he had always been a supporter of video evidence. “But it never occurred to me that the referee should be presented via video evidence. For me, video evidence was designed in such a way that there was someone sitting in the stands who was connected to the referee. The one at the top of the television screen was the referee gives an impetus, a help as to who the decision is to be made for. The referee has to be the one who decides. Now it’s a joke! The referee has to let himself be shown,” said Magath.