Gladbach unhappy with penalty decision after Bayern defeat

Borussia Mönchengladbach boss Roland Virkus and striker Tim Kleindienst have both expressed their disappointment at the decision to award Bayern München a penalty in Saturday’s game at Borussia-Park.

Harry Kane’s penalty proved to be the difference as Borussia Mönchengladbach lost 0-1 to Bayern München at Borussia-Park on Saturday.

Referee Felix Zwayer pointed to the spot in the second half after Michael Olise went down in the box following a challenge from Lukas Ullrich.

However, according to Gladbach managing director for sport Roland Virkus, there wasn’t enough contact to warrant the referee’s whistle.

“It’s really a shame. For me, it’s a 50-50 story,” Virkus said after the game, according to Kicker, adding that his criticism had “nothing to do with the outcome of the game” and that “Bayern deserved to win”.

“He (Olise) accepted it gratefully. And the contact wasn’t such that it needed to be whistled. And if it’s not whistled, the VAR won’t intervene,” he continued.

“What disappointed me – and I hate to say it, because it doesn’t help – was the referee’s performance. Everyone has a bad day sometimes.”

Gladbach striker Tim Kleindienst also thought it was a soft penalty, telling Sky Germany:

“If you call that a penalty, then there are 24 in every game. After all, it’s a contact sport.”

Kleindienst himself later went down at the other end after a challenge from Kim Min-jae in what he described as a “similar situation”.

“If there hadn’t been a whistle in either situation, it would have been fine,” he said.