Referee Deniz Aytekin justified the red card against the coach of FSV Mainz 05, Bo Svensson, in the cup round of 16 against FC Bayern Munich with an insult against the referee team. “He asked loudly if we were blind,” said Aytekin after Rheinhessen’s 4-0 defeat on Sky on Wednesday evening. “That’s not possible, we can endure a lot, that’s all right. But we won’t let ourselves be insulted, that’s the limit for me.” The referees are “not the garbage can of the nation, that’s not possible”.
The very experienced 44-year-old sent Svensson in the 81st minute from the interior, the 43-year-old Mainz coach had often verbally clashed with referees and had also been warned. Aytekin reported on a short discussion in the dressing room after the game. “We high-fived again, it’s all good, but at the moment it’s too much.” The insult that fourth official Martin Petersen reported to him was “not a language I want to hear on the pitch.”
Svensson confirmed that he had apologized to Aytekin. “At some point I said to the fourth referee, are you blind,” he said, adding, looking at the red card: “At 0: 3, I don’t know if that’s necessary, but it wasn’t necessary on my part either .”
