Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham unleashed a furious attack on referee Felix Zwayer following their team’s 3-2 loss to Bayern Munich, suggesting that an official has a history of match-fixing. should be anywhere near a Bundesliga match highlight.
A belated Robert Lewandowski penalty finally settled the game in Bayern’s favor after a thrilling exhibition of football at Signal Iduna Park.
But not everyone agreed with the decision to award the decisive penalty, at least among Dortmund’s teenage England internationals.
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“For me it’s not [a penalty]”, Bellingham announced after the final whistle.
“[Mats] Hummels wasn’t even looking at the ball, he was fighting for it and it just hit him. It touched him, and I didn’t even think he was looking at the ball.
“You can look at a lot of decisions in the game, you give a referee who fixed the match before the biggest game in Germany, what do you expect?”
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The episode Bellingham referred to involved Zwayer in relation to his involvement in a match-fixing scandal in the 2005 Bundesliga.
Zwayer has been banned for six months for accepting bribes from disgruntled referee Robert Hoyzer while he was assistant referee in a second round match. The Bundesliga was linked to Wuppertaler SV, one of the officials who received a penalty following the investigation. survey organized by the German FA.
Since then, he has risen to the pinnacle of his career and is one of only four German referees to have been awarded the Premier League by UEFA.
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Erling Haaland, who brought the game back 2-2 shortly after halftime before Lewandowski’s winner, was equally outraged by the match official’s performance.
“I think it’s a scandal when it comes to the referee,” the Norwegian protested, expressing his anger at the dismissal of Marco Reus’ warning.
“He’s arrogant, and I won’t say any more.”
