Joy, frustration, anger and regret – the emotions in Bremen were quite mixed on Friday evening after the victory over Mainz. Leonardo Bittencourt had clear words about the referee.
With 1-0, Werder prevailed against the usual galling Mainz and celebrated their first win of the new year. “It was definitely an expensive win, no question about it,” said Peter Niemeyer after the final whistle on DAZN, referring to the three red cards shown to the Hanseatics. In added time, referee Martin Petersen first sent off Niklas Strak for delaying the game and then also sent off Marco Friedl for complaining.
Friedl, as captain, is allowed to talk to the referee, but Petersen didn’t like the way he did it. “He runs after me, touches me on the back several times, I thought that was inappropriate. At some point, even the captain has reached his limit and he also got the yellow card.” After the final whistle, Werder coach Ole Werner also saw red – because of inappropriate language towards the referee.
Werner himself was remorseful afterwards, saying that he ‘couldn’t control himself’ and that something like that ‘shouldn’t have happened to him’. “I was a bad role model and I can only apologize for that.” The 36-year-old emphasized that his behavior was inappropriate and ”not what people would expect of me. It’s all the more surprising that I’m a little shocked myself – something has been building up a bit over the last few weeks.”
Petersen also confirmed that the Bremen coach regretted his behavior. “He came to the dressing room after the game, apologized and that’s why the topic is closed for me. There is no problem between me and Ole Werner.” Werner did not want to comment further on the two sending offs against his players. “I’ve already said too much today, so I’d rather not,“ he said, remaining tight-lipped, before adding: ‘I’ve said everything there is to say on the matter.’
”He showed such arrogance”
Leonardo Bittencourt had already done that very clearly. When asked about the red cards, the scorer of the 1-0 goal said that you had to “ask the referee” and then didn’t leave a good word about the referee. “He showed such arrogance. Martin Petersen was keen to show Werder Bremen red cards, for whatever reason. Hats off, you have to be able to do that, to give red cards – without need.”
Bittencourt also refused to believe that Werner could have used the wrong tone. “I know our coach, he’s a calm guy and I don’t think he could have said anything to get a red card.” Ultimately, we now know that it did happen after all – and that Stark saw yellow-red for wasting time.
Lack of tact
Bittencourt, however, had no sympathy for this decision, and instead criticized the referee for a lack of tact in this instance. He reported anecdotally in this regard on the 2-2 draw at Borussia Dortmund the previous week, when Christian Dingert had not sent Dortmund’s Ryerson off for the same offense. “Last week we had a referee who thought Ryerson already had a yellow card, but I can’t give him a yellow-red card at the throw-in – I don’t do that.”
But Petersen was different. “Today you had a referee who took a certain line against us throughout the whole game. What happened on the pitch today was terrible in my opinion.”
Bittencourt hopes it’s not too serious
In the end, however, the joy of the three points prevailed at the Weser – Bittencourt’s injury was no longer as serious. “When you win 1-0 and score the winning goal, the injury is not so bad. Still, it’s stupid and I hope I’m not out for long.”
The 31-year-old revealed that he “doesn’t feel too bad”, but also said that “we’ll have to wait and see what the doctors say and hope it’s not too bad. My gut feeling is that it’s not too bad, but I’m no expert on muscle injuries.”
