VfL Bochum was unable to record its first Bundesliga win of the season, even at the eighth attempt. In Freiburg, there was a 1:2, the referee came into the sights of VfL criticism.
Patrick Fabian, managing director of sport at VfL Bochum, didn’t want to talk at all about the performance of coach Thomas Letsch’s team after VfL’s 2-1 defeat at SC Freiburg. Fabian preferred to pick on Tobias Reichel from Sindelfingen and launched into a real referee scolding.
For the record, 36-year-old Fabian also paid Reichel a visit in the dressing room after the final whistle. One reason: Freiburg’s foul in the person of Vincenzo Grifo on Cristian Gamboa. Freiburg’s Italian international, who later scored the winning goal, only saw a yellow card. Bochum had expected a sending off.
“There are decisions made against us that are obvious. That is no longer explainable. It’s relatively hard stuff, but I don’t know if it’s because we’re just VfL Bochum. In the last game, we get a penalty against us that isn’t one. Now there has to be a clear red card for Freiburg. It can jSC Freiburg – VfL Bochum21. October 2023a not be that the player must first have a broken foot for the offender to see a red card. The handball penalty, yes, that’s the rule, I guess he has to give it. It’s a rule that’s hard to grasp. But the rule is just that there is a penalty if the ball goes to the arm,” Fabian clarified.
Once on a roll, the ex-professional, who recorded six Bundesliga games and 142 appearances in the 2nd Bundesliga during his playing days, rumbled on: “In the last seconds, a Freiburg player makes a throw-in six times, he is allowed to throw in for the seventh time and the whistle is not blown. That’s a joke, that’s really a joke! I can’t understand that. Others also complain, then we are allowed to do the same. There is the VAR for such scenes. We also had training sessions on this before the season. If the foul on Cristian Gamboa is not a red card, then I don’t know anymore. Maybe the ankle really has to be broken first. But clearly: we also have sporting issues that we need to work through. But I don’t want to say anything about that after this game.”
And, Freiburg coach Christian Streich expressed solidarity with the Bochum players. He said at the press conference, “If the referee had ruled against us like that, I’d be mad, too. “