Mats Hummels describes his own derby behavior as “unnecessary”

“Clear criticism of myself”

Hummels is annoyed by his own derby behavior

Things got heated at the end of the city derby in Rome. In the middle of it all was ex-BVB star Mats Hummels. He now admitted mistakes in his behavior.

After the emotional scenes in the derby between AS Roma and Lazio Rome (2-0), world champion Mats Hummels made self-critical comments about his behavior for the first time. In his podcast “Alone is difficult”, the 36-year-old reflected openly: “In retrospect, the faller annoys me. I don’t like it when you fall when you don’t have to fall. There is also clear criticism of me himself.”

Hummels’ club AS Roma had won the prestigious “Derby della Capitale”, but the heated moments in stoppage time cast a shadow over their success. Hummels clashed with Lazio’s Valentin Castellanos. A scuffle on the touchline escalated and ultimately resulted in a red card for the Argentine striker.

The trigger was a “classic, solid foul from me, without it being serious,” continued Hummels. Castellanos then kicked him “full throttle. Full throttle in the thigh,” said the former BVB star. That “made him angry for a moment,” said the defender.

Hummels continued to describe how the situation escalated: “He gave me a little headbutt – not a headbutt, but a little headbutt – and the fall was really unnecessary. There’s no other way to say that. That also annoyed me in retrospect: I don’t have to fall.”

The former national player openly admitted that this provoked the red card for Castellanos: “It was really like this: ‘Now you’re really going to fly down and I’ll take care of that’.”

Nevertheless, Hummels defended the referee’s decision. Overall, Castellanos deserved the punishment because he had already been conspicuous before. Hummels therefore: “There were many situations before in the game where the opponent in question caught my eye a bit. There was a bit of theatrics beforehand and a scene like that with our goalkeeper. He was always involved. He was always at the forefront. “