1. FC Cologne
Referee anger at Bayern win: “If you always travel with a sat nav…”
10/30/2025 – 2:19 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
1. FC Cologne is eliminated from the DFB Cup against FC Bayern Munich. However, at 1:4 (1:2) a blatantly wrong decision led to the defeat.
During the half-time break between 1. FC Cologne and FC Bayern Munich on Wednesday evening in the RheinEnergieStadion, stadium spokesman Michael Trippel no longer wanted to hold back. When the highlights of the first half were shown on the video walls, Trippel said on the microphone: “We won’t show you the 1-1 score, because you can see the offside position very clearly.”
What was meant was the goal from Bayern striker Luis Diaz. After a shot from Josip Stanisic and a save from Ron-Robert Zieler in the FC goal, the attacker only had to push the free-standing ball over the line. The problem: The Colombian was one meter offside when his teammate shot.
However, because no video assistant was used in the second round of the DFB Cup, the goal was not taken back. Referee Tobias Welz awarded the goal because his assistant on the sideline overlooked the Munich player’s clearly offside position. It wasn’t even close, and nothing blocked the view of the situation. At 1. FC Köln there was disbelief that such a wrong decision could have been possible.
“Today we really needed the VAR, so it’s a shame that the decision was made like that. But with a meter I would of course have wished that it would have been recognized,” goalkeeper Zieler tried to express himself diplomatically. FC coach Lukas Kwasniok, on the other hand, was already upset on the sidelines and afterwards made it clear how, in his opinion, such a wrong decision could have come about – and used the image from the navigation device.
“I think he can see that, if not even have to see it,” said Kwasniok at first and then started: “Regardless of today: If you’re always traveling with a navigation system, at some point you’ll forget the roads. They can usually rely on the VAR – and suddenly it’s not there. I think that influences the decision-making a bit.”
The 44-year-old did not want to blame the referee team. But Kwasniok also knew: what he saw as a blatantly wrong decision in the 36th minute had quickly brought FC Bayern back into the game after the Billy Goats’ surprise lead in the 31st minute. “We would have needed that little bit today. Then we might have gone into the break with a 1-0 lead. Bitter for us, bitter for the spectators because perhaps we could have made it a little wilder.”
This is how many teams are currently doing against FC Bayern: If one goal is scored, a second one is not far away. Bayern added another two minutes later through Harry Kane and were not to relinquish the lead until the end. After 90 minutes, Munich had a deserved victory. However, there was once again a discussion about the level of refereeing in Germany – but exceptionally with a scene that showed why the VAR can be a good tool.