What the papers say: ‘Extenuating circumstances’ after ‘joke red card’

The assessment in the Kölner Stadt Anzeiger: “Bayer 04 Leverkusen suffered a first defeat in their eighth game of the current season. However, there are extenuating circumstances for the 1-0 loss to Slavia Prague in the Europa League. The Werkself had to play with ten men for 70 minutes following an unjustified dismissal of Karim Bellarabi but they hardly gave away a chance from open play.”

The crucial incident with the red card shown to Bellarabi is described as follows: “Karim Bellarabi was the main protagonist in the first half albeit in a way that he would prefer to forget. The winger missed a great chance on three minutes when Kolar inadvertently played the ball to him. However, the Leverkusen player only recognised the scope of the opportunity a second too late and his shot went wide of the empty goal. He was less guilty with the incident that completely changed the character of the game. In an effort to block off Provod in a counter-attack, Bellarabi slipped on 23 minutes and collided with his opponent who crashed to the ground. As Bellarabi’s studs were showing, the Scottish referee Collum came to the conclusion that it was violent conduct and he showed the Leverkusen player a red card to his clear horror. VAR would have shown the referee that there was neither intent nor contact. But UEFA does not use VAR in the group stage of the competition.”

“There shouldn’t be red cards like that anymore”

The Bild Zeitung is even tougher on the referee and their headline reads: “Knockout header after joke red card.”. Their report quotes former Germany international Steffen Freund, co-commentator with the broadcaster RTL Nitro: “Clear refereeing error. There’s no VAR. UEFA has to think again. There shouldn’t be red cards like that anymore.”

The Rheinische Post also highlights the large number of changes for the Werkself: “Bayer coach Peter Bosz announced before the game that he was going to rotate. And the Dutchman kept his word. The 56-year-old made seven changes to the side that beat Augsburg 3-1 in the league on Monday. Lars and Sven Bender, Daley Sinkgraven, Edmond Tapsoba, Exequiel Palacios, Nadiem Amiri and Leon Bailey were replaced by Aleksandar Dragovic, Tin Jedvaj, Jonathan Tah, Wendell, Florian Wirtz, Kerem Demirbay and Karim Bellarabi in the starting line-up.”

Above all, Jonathan Tah received a good individual assessment from the RP. “This season the international has only appeared sporadically. Now he was in the starting eleven and clearly determined to show what he could do. He frequently looked for the long ball up front but too few found their target. In most of the challenges he won, the central defender was uncompromising on the border of fairness. At the start of the second half, he blocked a dangerous shot by the hosts at the last moment.”

The online verdict in the kicker describes the big chance for Leverkusen to equalise in the closing stages and then turns the focus to the next challenge for the Werkself: “The ten Leverkusen players threw everything up front in the closing stages – and were almost rewarded for an impressive battle with a man down. A delightful ball from Demirbay was hit wide of the target from close range by the substitute Amiri (89’) – the first competitive defeat for Leverkusen this season was sealed. In contrast, Bayer 04 are still unbeaten in the league – and they want to keep that run going away to Freiburg on Sunday (15.30 CET).”