Jonas Hofmann recently toppled FC Bayern with his two goals against Manuel Neuer. A week later, he’s already back in the spotlight. “In this day and age, players are hardly allowed to speak their minds. If I were to make them known now, I would probably be banned for the rest of the season,” he said after the game against VfB Stuttgart. What happened?
The “Foals” were leading 2-1 until the last minute of the game. Everything looked like an away win – until VfB striker Sasa Kalajdzic went down in the penalty area after clutching Gladbach’s Ramy Bensebaini. Referee Felix Brych’s whistle initially remained silent, then video assistant Bibiana Steinhaus intervened. Brych took another look at the scene and then gave the penalty after all.
VfB Stuttgart – Borussia Mönchengladbach: Last-minute penalty helps Swabia equalize
Silas Wamangituka converted the penalty kick to equalize for Stuttgart, and Borussia players and officials could no longer understand the world. Jonas Hofmann in particular could hardly be stopped after the final whistle. “This is an absolute cheek, quite clearly. I don’t know what people are thinking. Breel Embolo is fouled 50 times like that, but we don’t get a single whistle and in the 94th minute this referee whistles a foul, or he gets a hint that it was a clear wrong decision. It’s madness, I’ve never seen anything like it,” the 28-year-old raged. “I don’t know what we have a video referee for. The game was decided today by two, three people, hopefully they know that themselves,” he added pissed off.
Stuttgart – Gladbach: Referee Felix Brych admits error after disputed decision
But it got even better: referee Brych spoke up himself after the final whistle and did something that is extremely unusual for a referee – he admitted a mistake. At least indirectly. “Bensebaini takes a high risk because he clutches his opponent. But in the end there is still a contact from his own player on the foot and that was probably a deciding factor. Stuttgart can be happy with the penalty,” he admitted.
There was already a big upset in Friday’s Bundesliga match. Soon there will be a new edition of the duel, on February 3 Gladbach will again be the guests of Stuttgart in the DFB Cup. With anger in the belly.
