Were BVB hard done by? Hamann tears into the referees | OneFootball

After BVB’s defeat in Hoffenheim, two controversial VAR penalty decisions are taking center stage. TV pundit Didi Hamann sharply criticized the calls.

Borussia Dortmund remain in crisis and suffered a 2–1 defeat away to TSG Hoffenheim. However, the focus of the discussion was less on the team’s performance and more on two controversial penalty decisions following VAR interventions, both of which ultimately led to the goals conceded.

Sky pundit Didi Hamann in particular did not hold back with his criticism after the final whistle. In his view, both penalties were questionable: “I wouldn’t have given either penalty,” he made clear, before adding: “You can’t give a penalty for something like that.” The incident involving Niklas Süle caused particular disbelief. The defender slipped in his own penalty area, injured his knee in the process, and touched the ball with his hand as he fell – in the eyes of many, an unfortunate but hardly deliberate action.

BVB coach Niko Kovac also appeared puzzled by the assessment: “When a body falls, gravity comes into play.” Nevertheless, he ultimately accepted the decision, while fundamentally questioning whether such situations should continue to be considered punishable in the future.

VAR intervention involving BVB: Why Siebert awarded the penalty

Referee Daniel Siebert, meanwhile, gave a detailed defense of his decisions. Regarding the first incident, he explained: “Only the hand stops the shot on goal – so it’s a handball with a major impact.” In his view, that provided the basis for awarding a penalty. On the second penalty, in which Julian Ryerson slightly deflected a cross with his hand, Siebert pointed to the arm position: “The hand position is not close to the body but angled away from it, at shoulder height.”

Photo: IMAGO

Hamann felt the current interpretation of the rules had gone too far overall. “We can’t have a rule for every handball or every infringement,” he criticized, calling for more leeway for referees. For him, the key is that decisions should once again be made more in the spirit of the game.

The debate once again shows how controversial the interpretation of the handball rule remains in modern football – and that VAR tends to fuel the arguments rather than calm them.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.