The CEO of Bayer Leverkusen is of the opinion that a penalty should be imposed on the third row of Arminia Bielefeld for not watering their field before they switched off the Bundesliga champions in the semi-final of DFB-Pokal.
Pokal-holders Leverkusen took the lead in the last four collision on Tuesday, took the lead when Jonathan Tah bundled in the distant post.
Arminia, now in the 3. League after consecutive relegations, however, produced a remarkable turnaround thanks to goals by Marius Worl and Maximilian Grosser to end the Pokal defense of Leverkusen.
Leverkusen became the fourth Bundesliga side Arminia that were eliminated in the Pokal this season, after victories over Freiburg, Union Berlin and Werder Bremen. Arminia started the competition with a first round victory over Hanover, sixth in the 2. Bundesliga. They will be confronted with Stuttgart or RB Leipzig in the final.
But instead of concentrating on congratulating Arminia with their remarkable performance, Leverkusen sets CEO Fernando Carro into the play area.
“I was irritated before the game that the field was not watered,” Carro said. ‘I have to talk [Andreas] Attract [DFB Managing Director for Sport] about that. “
He added to the performance of Leverkusen: “It was a collective failure.
“The expectation was that we would deliver our best performance today, but we did not deliver. Yet it annoys me that the field was not water. That is a matter of regulatory issue. The DFB should impose a fine. That does not work. That is not acceptable.”
Carro, however, admitted that the result was an honest.
“They deserved to win,” Carro said about Arminia.
Cup magic at its best! 🎩
Arminia Bielefeld gets the ruling champions, Bayer Leverkusen, and ensures a place in their very first DFB-Pokal final! 🏆🔥#Dfb #Germanfootball #Dfbpokal pic.twitter.com/puywruczzi
– German football (@dfb_team_en) April 1, 2025
Arminia’s sports director Michael Mutzel was quickly rejected by Carro’s complaints.
“We talked about it with the referee before the match,” said Mutzel. ‘If the field is watered in the morning, it no longer has to be watered [before the match]. Water on the day is sufficient.
‘We don’t do that [water pitches before kick-off] For our competition matches. So why would we do that today? We would be at a disadvantage if we water the pitch. ‘
Head coach Michel Kniat was in the same way rejecting from Carro’s claims and pointed out that Leverkusen had an extra day to prepare for their most recent league match last Friday. Arminia, fourth in the 3.Ala, played on Saturday.
“Those are our rules here,” Kniat told reporters. “We would also have wanted a day off.”
Leverkusen -Head coach Xabi Alonso was more sincere in his grandeons than Carro.
“Of course everyone is disappointed, but I also have to congratulate Arminia Bielefeld,” said Alonso. “They played better and were also better at everything else.
“We didn’t have a good game today and were therefore disappointed. We had no control and made individual mistakes. Nothing worked today.”
Six points behind Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and who have already been eliminated by the same enemies in the Champions League is the chance that last season’s incredible Double will be followed by a campaign from which the DFL-Supercup will be their only prize.
But Alonso said about the team and their heavy fight in the Bundesliga title race: “This team has already given us so much, seen what we achieved last year in the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal and [this year] In the Champions League.
“But even in moments like this one we stay together, which is also important.
‘Of course I am not satisfied, but you have to accept that. We have to do that [give everything in the Bundesliga]That is now our competition and our goal. It will not be easy, but we will try. “
Leverkusen will try to place the humiliation of Tuesday behind them when they visit Heidenheim threatened by relegation on Saturday. With Bayern opposite Augsburg on Friday, Leverkusen can be nine points on drift by the time they start.
