Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored his 21st league goal in Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen yesterday after the referee made Bundesliga history by briefly stopping play when the home coach refused to go to the stands.
Confusion reigned for nine second-half minutes at Leverkusen’s BayArena when Bayer coach Roger Schmidt refused match official Felix Zwayer’s order to leave the sidelines which led to the game being halted.
Schmidt can expect heavy sanctions from the German FA (DFB), but later apologised for his behaviour.
“I was too stubborn and reacted emotionally, so in that regards, I let my team down,” Schmidt said more than an hour after the game.
The 48-year-old was furious that Dortmund were allowed to take a quick free kick in the build up to Aubameyang’s 64th-minute winner and stood his ground.
The controversy was triggered when Leverkusen striker Stefan Kiessling pushed over Dortmund’s Sven Bender in the Borussia half.
Zwayer awarded a free kick, which Matthias Ginter quickly took.
The move swept down field and Germany defender Erik Durm’s pass pulled the Leverkusen defence to create space for Aubameyang to hit the winner.
Schmidt furiously protested that the game should have been stopped for the free-kick to be taken while Kiessling tried to argue his coach’s case to the ref.
When Schmidt refused Zwayer’s demand that he went to the stands, the Berlin official marched the teams off.
“We went behind to an irregular goal. I pointed it out to the fourth official,” explained Schmidt. “It was certainly a mistake on my part. However, I wish the referee had explained to me just once why I had to go to the stands.”
When play eventually resumed, Schmidt watched the rest of the game in the Leverkusen dressing room.
It was the first time in Bundesliga history that a game has been stopped under such circumstances.
“I can empathise with Roger, but better he took that position than I did,” said Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel.
“Emotions can sometimes boil over, but on this occasion it was a little too much.”
Leverkusen’s star striker Javier Hernandez later wasted a golden chance in added time to equalise by firing over the bar with the goal at his mercy.
Later Schalke were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Stuttgart while South Korea’s Koo Ja-Cheol scored for Augsburg in their 1-0 win at bottom side Hanover, who have lost their last eight games.