- Schalke appeals against the Schallenberg ban
Football second-division club FC Schalke 04 will appeal against the suspension of Ron Schallenberg following his red card in the game against 1. FC Nuremberg. The club announced this on Sunday via platform X. Previously, both the DFB and referee Nicolas Winter had publicly admitted the error.
"Schallenberg's red card resulted from the referee's perception of a cautionable foul in the heat of the game," said Alex Feuerherdt, head of communication and media at the DFB, to WAZ. "However, upon reviewing the TV footage, this assessment cannot be upheld, and there should not have been a sending-off," he admitted.
Winter: "I would not make the same decision again."
Even referee Winter acknowledged his mistake: "I've seen the footage after the game, and clearly, I wouldn't show Schallenberg a red card again. Even though it's too late, I understand the anger of the Schalke fans, who were absolutely sportsmanlike towards us after the final whistle," he told Bild newspaper.
What happened? Schallenberg received his second yellow card in stoppage time of the first half, with the score at 1:0 in favor of the hitherto dominant visitors. In a duel with Nuremberg's already cautioned midfielder Caspar Jander, the referee saw a foul by the Schalke player, but it was rather the other way around.
"Cheek" and "Game-Changer"
"The Nuremberg player kicked Ron in the foot," described Schalke's coach Karel Geraerts the key scene. For him, it was "the game-changer." Schalke's captain Kenan Karaman spoke angrily of a "cheek." For sporting director Marc Wilmots, "the whole game turned on the wrong decision," as he noted in the stadium catacombs after the final whistle. Schalke ultimately lost the game against Nuremberg 1:3.
"Everyone makes mistakes, even referees. That happens," said the 55-year-old Belgian: "It would have been good if he could have been supported in that situation. Often, intervention occurs to check if a yellow card might not be a red card after all." Wilmots calls for a sensible adjustment of the rules: "In such situations, the video assistant should, in my opinion, be allowed to intervene."
Despite Schallenberg's red card affecting Schalke'04's performance in the game against Nuremberg, following a disagreed foul in his favor, the soccer club expresses their intent to appeal the decision. The controversial incident, considered a 'game-changer' by Schalke's coach Karel Geraerts, led to a 1:3 loss for the team.
