With grossly unsportsmanlike actions, Joshua Kimmich and Benjamin Pavard caused a stir in the quarter-finals of FC Bayern’s DFB Cup against SC Freiburg.
After Jamals Musiala’s clear handball (90+3 minutes), referee Harm Osmers immediately awarded a penalty. The VAR rightly did not intervene.
Sagittarius Lucas Höler grabbed the ball and wanted to go to the penalty spot. But the two Bayern pros Benjamin Pavard and Joshua Kimmich came before him.
The duo snuck up to the penalty spot and destroyed the turf with the studs to negatively impact Höler’s shot.
Referee Osmers at least noticed Pavard’s action and showed the Frenchman a yellow card. The Bayern defender accepted this with a smile. Kimmich got off scot-free.
Pavard and Kimmich received a real shit storm on social networks for the campaign.
“The true face of FC Bayern. When a penalty is taken, four players try to trample the penalty spot, with Kimmich and Pavard at the forefront,” wrote a user on Twitter.
“Pavard shows in the 911 that values like fair play and respect no longer matter. I would have shown him red for depraved behavior. No other sport with so little decency,” rumbled another.
Many demanded a red instead of just a yellow card for Pavard’s unsportsmanlike conduct. But the referee experts from Collina’s heirs have already clarified.
“No gross unsportsmanlike conduct, just: unsportsmanlike conduct – and therefore correctly punished with a warning. A field reference is not intended for such an approach,” says Twitter.
However, the action taken by the Bayern players had no positive effect. Höler safely converted the penalty kick to make it 2-1 and knocked FC Bayern out of the DFB Cup.
