The German Football Association acknowledged on Saturday that Borussia Dortmund was deprived of a penalty in the away match against VfL Bochum. BVB was white hot after the 1-1 draw because a penalty kick was not awarded by referee Sascha Stegemann. The 38-year-old referee has also apologized.
In the second half, Dortmund screamed for a penalty, but the German referee refused to award a penalty when Adeyemi was brought to the ground in the penalty area by his direct opponent Danilo Soares. Stegemann also did not go to the sidelines to review the situation on the VAR screen. Dortmund ultimately failed to win over the line, allowing Bayern Munich to take the lead in the Bundesliga again on Sunday with a victory against Hertha BSC.
Now the game against Bochum.Adeyemi is clearly fouled in the penalty area and Bochumer doesn’t touch the ball at all. Because the referee doesn’t care and just ignores it. Oddly enough, the VAR doesn’t even look at it. This game (could) have now decided the championship. pic.twitter.com/dz4B32fxoM
— Baro (@Baro1909) April 29, 2023
Stegemann can understand the anger at Dortmund. “I am not only a referee, but also a football fan and above all a human being,” says the referee Sky Deutschland. “Dortmund has the chance to become champions and when it goes like last night, and a penalty kick that should have been given is not given, then you sympathize and you can understand that emotions are running high.”
The referee thought Adeyemi was on purpose trying to contact Danilo on the field. “But when I look back at the images, I have to conclude that we made the wrong decision.” Stegemann explains that he was not called to review the moment on the VAR screen. “The video assistant reviewed the footage and concluded that no obvious wrong decision had been made. Then I continued the race.”
In a conversation with WDR 2 Stegemann also admits to having made a wrong decision: “I am extremely annoyed, I feel shit. It was a very, very short night’s sleep, I’m not good about it. You wake up with a bad feeling because you’re angry that you didn’t make the right decision in a certain moment.”
The German referee commission is critical of Stegemann a day after the draw between Bochum and Dortmund. “It is a foul and therefore a penalty kick, as the TV images also show. The expectation must remain that such moments will be correctly judged by the referee on the field, without the need for support from the video assistants.”