Justin Butler of Energie Cottbus was the victim of racist abuse at 1860 Munich. FCE coach Claus-Dieter-Wollitz suggested abandoning the game.

After the final whistle of 1860 Munich’s 3-0 home win over Energie Cottbus at Grünwalder Straße, the sport became secondary. The victory was overshadowed by derogatory chants, flying beer cups, and monkey noises from a 1860 fan directed at Justin Butler of Energie Cottbus, who was visibly upset by the incident.

“The 1860 Munich executive committee has apologized for this person,” Claus-Dieter Wollitz told MagentaSport about the scenes after the final whistle. “They don’t need to apologize for that, but I still find it very pleasant,” Wollitz praised the gesture. “This is someone who doesn’t belong here. 1860 can’t do anything about it, nobody can. Nobody needs this, nobody wants this.”

There wasn’t much time left to play, and 1860 was comfortably leading 2-0. So Wollitz suggested to the referee, Konrad Oldhafer, that the game be abandoned. He would have accepted the defeat. Wollitz: “I told the referee he could stop the game to send a message.”

The goal: “Just to get in there so that everyone thinks about it. With all the emotion. With all the importance.” The 60-year-old was clear: “Just send a message. We always talk, but no one acts. That’s sad for the players, but also sad for 1860 Munich and for everyone else.“ There is a lack of attitude, Wollitz complains. ”This happens again and again. No matter who, no matter where, no matter in which stadium—none of us have the attitude we should have to stop this game.”

But the referee did not blow the whistle to end the game. Wollitz also disagreed with the referee’s penalty decision before the 1-0 (40th minute), which turned the game on its head. His assessment: “The game became strange with the penalty. Until then, Energie Cottbus was the better team.”

He commented sarcastically on the perfectly justified penalty: “It’s always a penalty against Energie Cottbus,” and launched into a general criticism: “Where is the VAR? Where is it? Then we wouldn’t have these discussions.”