Stuttgart have made it back-to-back DFB Pokal finals, and star striker Deniz Undav was in a particularly entertaining mood post match.
The German striker scored in a 2-1 win over Freiburg, landing Stuttgart a place back in Berlin where they’ll defend their crown against Bayern Munich.
But as Undav explained post-match, they probably shouldn’t have got through.
With the score 1-1 in the 91st minute Lucas Höler was played through and won a battle with Jeff Chabot to seemingly make it 2-1 Freiburg.
However, referee Tobias Welz had just blown his whistle for a possible foul, meaning VAR was unable to review the incident.
Angry Undav
Undav was candidly stunned post-match, saying: “I don’t think you can make a bigger mistake as a referee.
“Good for us of course, but you should never, ever whistle for that.
“He wasn’t able to control the game properly today. He gave out too many yellow cards. At the beginning, he was calling fouls that weren’t fouls.
“I don’t like him anyway. We’ve had a problem before.
“But I have to say that I’m not satisfied with the referee’s performance.
“Emotions are part of the game, it’s a derby. I also had the feeling that he wasn’t open to discussion.”
While Undav’s honesty may have come as a shock, that of Freiburg captain Matthias Ginter was not.
Freiburg fume at disallowed goal
“They cross paths, play continues with a three-meter offside [allowand], so let play continue,” he said.
“You can always call it back later if it was a foul. To blow the whistle in that situation, just before the shot, that’s not right.
“It’s a wrong decision. I already said something two weeks ago, and I had to pay a fine of 15,000 euros.”
Teammate Christian Günter said: “If that’s a foul, I can end my career right here and now. That’s really nothing.”
Coach Julian Schuster also added: “I don’t know why he had to blow the whistle there.
“That’s a perfectly legitimate goal. That’s harsh. You score a perfectly legitimate goal, and unfortunately it gets disallowed. Excuse me, but that’s not a foul. That hurts.”
Finally, Germany legend Bastian Schweinsteiger finished: “I was sitting here thinking: Okay, that’s a goal. 2-1 for Freiburg.
“Then the whistle blows and I thought there must have been something before that, like a free kick or something.
“But when you see this… That’s not a foul, it just didn’t make sense.”
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