Stieler on the missed penalty: "That's the little element of deception"

A disallowed penalty and the immediate resulting sending off of Paul Nebel put 1. FC Köln on the road to victory in Mainz. Referee Tobias Stieler wasn't the only one to comment after the final whistle.

It's the 59th minute: In the Cologne penalty area, contact occurs between Tom Krauß and Anthony Caci . The Frenchman falls to the ground, hoping for a penalty, but referee Stieler is in a good position and lets it go. Just seconds later, Paul Nebel is shown the red card for a late tackle on Jakub Kaminski . FSV coach Bo Henriksen stated after the final whistle on DAZN that this was "the deciding factor" and declined to comment further on the referee's decision.

Danny da Costa , in turn, did the same, and there was no mistaking the answer. "Definitely," he said, it was worthy of a penalty: "If I knee someone in the box, I have to assume there's a foul," said the defender, emphasizing: "It can't be that I kick someone in the knee and nothing happens. Then it's doubly bitter that we get a red card in return."

Kwasniok: "I can't stand that at all"

Meanwhile, da Costa's Mainz teammate Nadiem Amiri took a completely different view of the incident, noting that he wasn't close enough, but at first glance, he didn't think it was a penalty. "The momentum was too slow. If Krauss had gone in quicker, then it would have been a penalty, but as it was, it wouldn't have been a penalty."

Cologne coach Lukas Kwasniok agreed, but he expressed himself more bluntly. In his opinion, it was a "classic" move, as "the attacker tried to pull something off." The coach was even annoyed that Caci rolled around on the ground after "minimal contact." "I can't stand that." The red card, on the other hand, was absolutely "clear – period, out, amen!"

Contact, effect and deceptive element?

Tobias Stieler also stepped up to the microphone and gave insight into his decision-making process. "I usually take a three-step approach," the referee revealed, adding: "Is there contact? Yes, there was contact." He would then examine the "effect and element of deception." This involves the question of whether the "contact fits the spectacular case." Stieler answered this with a resounding "no."

Finally, he also referred to "a moment of delay," meaning the fact that Caci's fall came a little later than expected. "That's that little element of deception," Stieler noted, not wanting to "blame the player," as he "would probably have done the same thing. I then came to the conclusion: no foul, no penalty."

Stieler also admitted that he still had some residual doubts, revealing that he had already considered what he would say if his penalty decision had turned out to be wrong. "Then, fortunately, the VAR confirmed that the first incident had been correctly decided, and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief." Thus, the red card was completely uncontroversial. "The emergency braking situation was so clear, I could see it relatively clearly. The decision was easy."

Henriksen, incidentally, commented on Stieler's explanation that he would have expected nothing less from the referee. "He has to say that. If he had awarded a penalty, he would also say it was 100 percent a penalty." However, the Dane didn't want to blame the referee, instead emphasizing that he "did his best" and that such things are simply part of the nature of football.