Terzic provides updates on injured trio, Sabitzer comments on penalty scene

Ahead of Tuesday’s second Champions’ League leg against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday, Edin Terzic had mostly positive news to report with respect to a trio of injured Dortmund players when conducting his post-match press conference following Saturday’s 2-1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach. Lead-striker Sebastien Haller had to exit proceedings inside of ten minutes with an ankle issue. Attacker Jamie Bynoe-Gittens had to be subbed off in the 54th after his back seized up. Jadon Sancho had to be scratched on short notice due to a stomach bug. 

Terzic noted that Haller could still walk despite the ankle flare up and that the Ivorian striker was of the opinion that “it wasn’t so bad”. Bynoe-Gittens – according to Terzic – had similar news to report. The BVB trainer claimed that Sancho was already feeling much better after having gastrointestinal problems on Friday and was expected to be able to fit enough to join Sunday’s training session. With all that went awry in a match that the team “envisioned quite differently”, Terzic praised his team for “passing an important test”. 

The 2-1 win away at Borussia Park featured many strange twists and turns indeed. Terzic had to make quick calls on deploying Karim Adeyemi and Ian Maatsen in the second 45 after both players incurred bookings in the first half. Maatsen was yanked at the half as a protective measure, yet Adeyemi did end up leaving his team shorthanded with a second yellow. Just prior to Adeyemi’s sending off, the 22-year-old had apparently drawn a penalty when BMG keeper Jonas Omlin collided with him in pursuit of a loose ball. 

Marcel Sabitzer – who had already scored two goals in the match – had already taken the penalty and was celebrating a hat trick when match official Florian Badstübner called him back to indicate that the play was under review. Babstübner had been compelled to take another look at the scene by the VAR team. After reviewing the play, the penalty was chalked off. The referee’s gesturing to Sabitzer indicated that he had not blown his whistle to permit Sabitzer to approach a live ball.

Commenting on the scene afterwards, Sabitzer insisted that he had heard the whistle. It looks to be the case that – with the VAR check taking so long – the Austrian midfielder mistook one of the hundreds of whistles commonly utilized by fans in attendance as Badstübner’s signal to take the penalty. Players on the pitch can usually differentiate between the two sounds. In Sabitzer’s case, an extra offside check that delayed Badstübner further apparently meant that Sabitzer simply assumed he had the go-ahead. 

“Loud stadium, lots of spectators,” Sabitzer said afterwards, “I 100 percent heard a whistle, but I’ve been assured that it was from the stands. We had a quick laugh about it afterwards because there was nothing malicious behind it, but I really did hear something.”