The outpouring of criticism in either direction of the officiating decisions in Bayern Munich’s 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen has been seemingly constant ever since the match itself concluded. Both Nicolas Jackson and Luis Díaz were sent off during the match, but the latter’s second yellow card was a massive talking point of speculation. The Colombian winger was ruled to have taken a dive to try to win a penalty in Leverkusen’s box, though the instant replays clearly showed he sort of slipped as he got
closer to keeper Janis Blaswich and there was definitely contact made.
Referee Christian Dingert admitted post-match that he got the on-field decision wrong and VAR was not able to intervene because it was a second yellow card decision. Bayern’s appeal to have Díaz’s one-match ban lifted was denied by the DFB and Jackson is set to serve a two-match Bundesliga ban.
Former Bayern president Uli Hoeneß was one of several figures to have come out and lambasted the officiating performance at the BayArena, as he went as far as saying it was the worst refereeing performance he’d ever witnessed. There was additional frustration to the Díaz situation with Bayern also having two goals ruled out due to handballs, with Harry Kane’s situation having been far more controversial than Jonathan Tah’s infraction.
Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes recently came out and challenged Hoeneß’s criticism of the match officials as one of several pundits that spoke against Bayern trying to get the Díaz ruling appealed.
“I don’t understand his criticism and I don’t see it that way. There were interruptions due to VAR. Otherwise, the referee let the game flow; there was a good flow to the game. There were goalscoring chances and challenges. I’ve experienced much worse games, even though I’m a bit younger,” Rolfes rationalized (via @iMiaSanMia).
Of course, Rolfes would know just as well as anyone else in and around the German football scene that Hoeneß is not one to bite his tongue in the public eye, but he might feel that more discernment needs to be shown in these types of situations. Tempers flared, the match was filled with drama, and there was added weight since Borussia Dortmund had won their match against FC Augsburg, so Bayern’s lead in the table was reduced by two points from eleven to nine with the way everything panned out.
In isolation, Dingert definitely got the Díaz second yellow card decision blatantly wrong and there were other decisions that certainly went against Bayern that were suspect to say the least, but it also goes both ways. Jonas Hofmann’s late winner was ruled out for what looked to be millimeters of the top of his shoulder blade being offside and Díaz might’ve been lucky not to have seen straight red for his high boot on Robert Andrich.
