Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann “does not understand” that the leaders of Freiburg have filed a complaint to try to win on green carpet the match lost 4-1 on Saturday against Munich. Freiburg, currently 5th in the standings fighting for a place in the Champions League, requested arbitration from the sports courts on the grounds that Bayern played for 18 seconds with 12 outfield players, following an error during changes in the 85th minute, when the score was 3-1 for Munich.
“I can’t understand why they are doing this,” Nagelsmann said on Tuesday during the Champions League quarter-final pre-match press conference against Villarreal on Wednesday. “Personally, I wouldn’t have done it. Freiburg could not have scored two goals during those 18 seconds, ”continued the Bavarian technician, whose team is at the top of the championship with 9 points ahead of Dortmund.
“If you arrive at the end of the season (…) and you play Europe thanks to three points that you have not won on the ground, sportingly, I would not be so happy”, argued the coach of 34 years old. His Freiburg counterpart, Christian Streich, hot after the match, assured that he had no intention of filing a complaint for this incident.
According to several German experts in the refereeing community, the referees are more to blame than Bayern for not having properly controlled the entrances and exits of players at the time of substitutions.
The misunderstanding occurred in the 85th minute, when, at the same time as that of Niklas Süle, Marcel Sabitzer entered the game, announced in place of n°29. Except that the latter does not exist! It’s actually Kingsley Coman’s old number, which is now number 11.
The French striker had just scored his team’s third goal. The confusion would have started from the request of Corentin Tolisso, yet entered in the 62nd minute of play, to leave the field following a muscle tear that the staff had not interpreted as such. “It was vague, explained Nagelsmann, the Bavarian coach. I only realized after the game against Freiburg that it was a muscle fiber injury (for Tolisso), then the fourth referee displayed the wrong number. Kingsley didn’t know he had to go out. It was a bit confusing. These are errors that happen, but there is nothing that impacts the honesty of the match … “, he argued.
The Friborg players immediately noticed this and reported it to the man in black. The confusion lasted eight minutes before everything was back to normal. And Bayern, which had regained a three-point lead (nine in total) over Dortmund, dryly beaten (1-4) on its ground by Leipzig, could therefore lose them according to several experts.
