The pictures were right back. Déjà vu Paris brought back bad memories. As was the case six months ago during Borussia Dortmund’s last appearance in the Champions League, the football players in yellow and black stood in front of the referee and could not believe his decision: a penalty for handball. At that time, Danny Makkelie whistled in the second leg of the round of 16 at Chelsea after an action by Marius Wolf, now it was Jesús Gil Manzano at the start of the preliminary round at Paris Saint-Germain after Niklas Süle’s action.
Tobias Rabe
Editor in charge of Sport Online.
The penalty in London led to elimination from the competition, the one in Paris contributed significantly to Dortmund’s 2-0 defeat. Kylian Mbappé converted the penalty kick (49th minute) at the Prinzenpark Stadium on Tuesday evening, and former Borussia player Achraf Hakimi added a little later to make the final score (58th). “We have been discussing this for the last few years and we will continue to do so. But as long as there is no clear line, nothing will change,” said coach Edin Terzić on Prime Video.
Not all Dortmunders saw the matter so objectively. Almost all the players surrounded the referee on the pitch. “I asked the referee to go out and take a look. He didn’t do that,” said captain Emre Can. After a shot from Mbappé, Süle had the ball hit his arm in the penalty area. There was no apparent intention and the contact seemed unfortunate. “On the pitch I saw that Niklas was playing with his hand, but he fell and had to support himself somewhere,” said Can.
Matthias Sammer, who is not only a Prime Video expert but is also under contract with Dortmund as an external consultant, was really angry. His criticism of the referee was less about the specific scene with Süle and the interpretation of criminal or non-criminal handball, but rather about Gil Manzano’s demeanor. “I’m glad that artificial intelligence is coming soon. Because the way the referee strutted across the pitch, I don’t think it’s any fun anymore.”
Sammer sees a bad role model in a crucial position: Roberto Rosetti, chairman of the European Football Union’s Referee Commission. “When he struts around the stadium like that, I always think: Well, when the young people see that, they think that strutting is right,” said Sammer. It is clear that a referee must have a certain authority. But: “I don’t like this arrogance, this dismissiveness. And accordingly I thought that was a total wrong decision – and decisive in the game.”
Not only the game itself, but also Dortmund’s game plan was effective. Terzić had come up with a tactic that was unusual for his team. With a five-man defense, the opponent’s offense was to be contained by the oh-so-fast wingers Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé, while the nimble Donyell Malen and Karim Adeyemi were to run away from Dortmund’s three-man block in midfield on counterattacks. But there was a significant lack of implementation, especially in the first half.
