When the referee takes centre stage in a match, it is rarely good news. In the Bundesliga clash between SV Elversberg and FC Augsburg, referee Florian Exner awarded no fewer than four penalties.
He awarded two of them during play, while the other two required VAR intervention. He also overturned another penalty for Augsburg after reviewing the footage. A goal by SVE player Raif Adam was also disallowed following a VAR review in the 79th minute.
The chaos on the pitch left fans, coaches and players confused and frustrated.
Augsburg’s Robin Fellhauer told ‘DAZN’ after the final whistle: “I’ve never experienced a game like this either, where decisions are rarely made on the pitch and help from outside is always needed. That speaks volumes. I have to be a bit careful about what I say, because what happened today was just crazy. But yes, everyone has a bad day sometimes. You couldn’t talk to him either. It really disrupts the flow of the game when there are constant stoppages.”
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“I can’t even remember everything that happened,” said Elversberg defender Lasse Günther. “I’ll have to watch the highlights on TV, because so much happened that I’ve forgotten half of it.”
And Elversberg’s Lukas Petkov said he no longer even knew “which way was up or what the hell was going on” because it was “wild”.
Both coaches also complained vehemently to the referee after the final whistle. Despite the win, Elversberg coach Vincent Wagner was unhappy with the official’s performance: “Referees always do their best, but today was certainly interesting, that’s how I’d put it,” he told ‘DAZN’.
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Yesterday’s game certainly was quite a spectacle, then. Elversberg eventually won 4–3. Neither the players nor referee Florian Exner are likely to forget this match anytime soon.
The record for the most penalties in a single match was not broken, though: it has stood since 1965, when no fewer than five spot-kicks were awarded in BVB’s 5–4 win over Gladbach.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.