Mario Götze was not exactly happy with the performance of his compatriot Felix Zwayer as a referee after the game between Real Sociedad and PSV. The team from Eindhoven lost 3-0 in San Sebastian and were therefore sentenced to a sequel in the Conference League after the winter. Zwayer gave Real Sociedad a penalty in the first half and sent Ibrahim Sangaré off the field after the break with his second yellow card.
“When you see the game and the way the referee directed the game… I just don’t get it, I wasn’t happy about that. When you see how many yellow cards we got and how they played, and how they did things that we would rather not see in football… As a referee you just have to see that”, Götze says in front of the camera of PSV TV. The German midfielder is not specifically concerned with the penalty kick and the red card that Zwayer gave, respectively because of a handball from Phillipp Mwene and because Sangaré waved his arms.
“I look at it very differently, in its entirety. Not just these important moments. I have yet to look at it from his perspective, but in the end you have to see it about the whole game. If you see how he led those ninety minutes, it’s not the right way,” Götze replied. Zwayer was also the target of criticism last weekend, when he gave Bayern Munich a crucial penalty in the game against Borussia Dortmund and Jude Bellingham afterwards mentioned that he was once involved in match fixing. “Certainly in these kind of decisive duels, you have to realize that and be one hundred percent. That’s why I was angry on the pitch. There were also a lot of fouls against me and I didn’t see a yellow card. That’s it from my perspective.”
“It was a hard shot, but Phillipp blocked the ball and I was happy with that. But apparently it was hands. I didn’t see that”, reacts Joël Drommel to the reason for the penalty kick, from which Mikel Oyarzabal opened the score. “I heard that the second yellow card for Sangaré was given a bit easily. I think a little acting on their part, that happened three times today. That they lay down with a little tap. I found that easy.”
Götze also emphasizes that PSV should look at itself after the game in Spain. “Maybe we had a lot of ball possession, but they defended well. We were not decisive enough in the last phase. We have to improve that. We hit the bar in the first half and had some moments, but they were sharp. It’s disappointing for us.”