Frankfurt (dpa)
The German Football Association announced today, Tuesday, that Borussia Dortmund midfielder Judd Bellingham has been fined 40,000 euros for criticizing referee Felix Zoer after his team’s 3-2 loss to Bayern Munich last weekend.
The 18-year-old avoided a ban for unsportsmanlike behaviour.
The England international accepted the penalty imposed on him.
Bellingham was angry after a penalty kick was awarded to fellow defender Mats Hummels, after the ball touched his hand, and Robert Lewandowski scored the winning goal for Bayern with the penalty kick in the match that was held last Saturday.
Bellingham said in an interview with the Norwegian network “Viaplay”: You give to a referee, who was involved in a match-fixing scandal before, the biggest match in Germany, what are you waiting for? “For me, it was not a penalty,” he added. He wasn’t even looking at the ball and was fighting to get it and it hit him.
And he added: You can consider many decisions during the match.
Zuer was suspended for six months in 2005, for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal involving former referee Robert Heuser.
Dortmund were not happy with captain Marco Reus being fouled by Lucas Hernandez in the penalty area, which was not even reviewed by video technology, as Zuer did while making the decision against Hummels.
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