Players and bosses beside themselves
Bayern anger at referee after draw against HSV
January 31, 2026 – 10:48 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The culprit was quickly found: referee Harm Osmers. At least that’s what everyone in charge and stars at FC Bayern agreed on. Wild scenes are said to have occurred in the catacombs.
The anger over the second Bundesliga game in a row without a win was clearly visible to sports director Max Eberl and coach Vincent Kompany. In his first sentences about the game analysis, Eberl criticized the referee on the Sky microphone and said he was “a little overwhelmed”. However, he wasn’t very specific, saying only: “In my opinion, he didn’t assess many situations well.”
Coach Kompany became a little more specific in this regard at Sky. “The defender slips, falls and Harry Kane gets a yellow card,” he commented with an incredulous laugh. The 39-year-old also disliked the 16 minutes of added time. In the first round the referee extended the game by six minutes, in the second round nine minutes were indicated, but in the end it was even ten.
“With 16 minutes of injury time, it’s not just the 22 players on the pitch who are to blame, but there are other people too. We could have played an extra 20 or 25 minutes. Clear situations were made complicated.” Kompany vented his anger on the pitch and went straight to the referee trio as soon as the final whistle sounded.
According to the “Bild” newspaper, parts of the Munich coaching team also besieged the dressing room inside the stadium and discussed with Osmers. Harry Kane, who complained to the 41-year-old unusually often during the game, is also said to have commented on the scene. “The worst I’ve ever met in football,” the 32-year-old is said to have said in English. According to Sport1, Josip Stanišić rated the performance as “catastrophic”.
Manuel Neuer also expressed his displeasure in the catacombs. “If the referee is an issue after the game, then it’s never a good sign. I think it’s always best if the referee isn’t discussed. Because then you know that he had the game under control. But if you’re asked that often, then it doesn’t speak for it.”
There were some tricky situations in the game that Osmers decided against Munich. After ten minutes, Michael Olise was brought down after slight contact by Hamburg’s Mikelbrencis, but there was no penalty. Shortly afterwards, Nicolás Capaldo Kane was the last man to clear, but there wasn’t even a free kick. And in stoppage time, Daniel Elfadli received the ball on his arm after Kimmich shot – after consulting the VAR, there was no penalty. On the other hand, Kimmich only caused the penalty to give HSV the lead with slight contact.
