Referee Matthias Jöllenbeck reacted with incomprehension to the strong and partly irrelevant criticism of the Mainz coach Bo Svensson regarding his penalty decision for Schalke 04.
“I’m a bit disappointed because he unpacked an old thing in Augsburg. I made a mistake back then and apologized for it. He smeared that on my bread. He said I had already cheated then. I think so It’s a shame and disappointing,” said Jöllenbeck about the dispute with Svensson after Mainz’s 3-2 defeat on Friday evening. “Then you don’t have to keep talking.”
“Holding Caci was more relevant”
According to the TV pictures, Jöllenbeck awarded Schalke a penalty after Marius Bülter was held by his jersey in the penalty area by his opponent Anthony Caci. Bülter scored in the 102nd minute to win for Schalke. The Schalke attacker had previously tugged at the Mainzer’s jersey, “but keeping Caci was more relevant. I can live with the decision that way a lot better,” said Jöllenbeck. He is therefore glad that the video assistant has turned on.
Svensson described the penalty decision shortly after the final whistle in the first emotion as “cheeky” and “scandal”. He later apologized for it. “The choice of words was too harsh and exaggerated, I regret that,” said the Dane and also admitted: “It was a mistake on my part to talk about the Augsburg game again.” In April 2022, Jöllenbeck also awarded a penalty against the 05ers in the 2-1 defeat of Mainz in Augsburg and later described this as a wrong decision.
“For me it is a clear wrong decision”
According to Svensson, such was the case against Schalke. “If you look at the TV pictures, you can see that Schalke pulls first. That’s not a foul, but if our player pulls, it’s a foul. That’s an explanation problem. For me it’s a clear wrong decision,” he affirmed . However, the 43-year-old needn’t fear an aftermath, as Jöllenbeck says he will not record the verbal argument in the match report.
