Federico decided the match against Bournemouth by scoring his first Premier League goal: “It repays the work done. Last year I arrived in poor condition.” Holtmann on controversial decisions: “The referee had a guilty conscience.”
In VfL Bochum’s hard-fought 3-1 win at BFC Dynamo, one person was repeatedly the center of attention: referee Felix Wagner. Gerrit Holtmann suspects he had a guilty conscience.
Five minutes into the game, he was the center of attention for the first time: referee Felix Wagner, who was officiating the DFB Cup match between BFC Dynamo and VfL Bochum. Ibrahima Sissoko was fouled in the penalty area and even injured himself in the process. The referee failed to blow his whistle. Then, in the second half, Koji Miyoshi was brought down from behind in the penalty area while attempting to get a second ball on goal (73′) – again, no penalty for VfL. Instead, the underdogs took a 1-0 lead.“The referee had a guilty conscience at the end for not giving us the penalties,” Gerrit Holtmann suspected. Late in the game, two BFC players were sent off. “In the end, I think he gave BFC a red card that wasn’t warranted. The one against Lenz definitely was.”
Shortly after Larry Oellers was sent off, VfL equalized through Loosli (85th minute), and it was only after the second sending-off that Samuel Bamba scored the winning goal (107th minute). Matus Bero had previously missed a penalty (95th minute).
As Dieter said, if you play at 70 percent here, it’s just not enough.
Gerrit Holtmann
“We’ve advanced—that’s all that matters,” Holtmann emphasized repeatedly in his post-match interview. But he also knows that this cannot be the performance to build on: “As Dieter said, if you play at 70 percent here, it’s just not enough.”
The 30-year-old winger was looking for explanations. “The pitch was dry and higher than usual. That’s no excuse, I know the conditions in Darmstadt were perfect,” said Holtmann, recalling the 1-4 defeat at SV Darmstadt on the first matchday. “It was very, very old here. The pitch wasn’t fresh. It’s little things like that that make the difference in a DFB Cup game. But you also have to say: if you get the penalty and make it 1-0, then it’s easier. Look at Hamburg in Primasens, Leipzig in Sandhausen—it’s not easy because every team can defend deep.“
There is definitely room for improvement, also with regard to the upcoming derby against FC Schalke 04, which was already on the players’ minds today: ”You want to score an early goal. Then your head kicks in and you switch gears. We’re focused on Schalke – it’s clear that we need a 300% improvement there.“ (with gp)
oni complicated, I hadn’t trained for a month at Juve”
A flash in the night at Anfield. How many times must Federico Chiesa have dreamed of this: celebrating under the Kop. In the entire 2024-25 season, the former Juventus player had scored only twice, playing in just 14 games. His first goal in the FA Cup, at home against Accrington, was in the 90th minute of a 4-0 win, not exactly memorable. The other, useless, came in the 94th minute of the Carabao Cup final, lost 2-1 to Sandro Tonali’s Newcastle at Wembley. Friday’s was his first Premier League goal and it came again in the “Chiesa zone,” in the 88th minute, a goal that allowed the Reds to regain the lead after Bournemouth had come back from 0-2 down. Salah then added the icing on the cake in the 94th minute for a final score of 4-2, but it was Federico, who came on in the 82nd minute for Florian Wirtz, who decided the match.
“My first thought after the goal went to Diogo Jota,” Chiesa told Sky Sport, “to his brother and their whole family. It was a touching moment, especially winning like that. That ball helped me push it in from up there, I want to think so. This goal repays all the hard work. Last year, I arrived in difficult circumstances. I hadn’t trained at Juve and found myself struggling here, with a different pace. I don’t know why that decision was made, but not training for a month penalized me in my journey at Anfield. Slot always encouraged me. I’m very happy at Liverpool, I’m at one of the strongest teams in the world, as the transfer market has also shown.“
slot— Reds coach Arne Slot also spoke about Chiesa after the game: ”The fans sang for him many times during the game and also last season. I think it’s very nice for him to give them something in return, and that’s definitely what he did today. When we needed him, he answered the call. That’s a positive thing for the future of the club. There was an incredible atmosphere in the final minutes. I thought winning the league here would always be more special than winning a home game against Bournemouth, but the last six or seven minutes… wow. Wow, wow, wow. How impressive was that?”