Götze, Klopp and Kehl on the actions in Neverkusen
Like Ida told us in our match report, the 0-0 at Neverkusen was not a classic, boring one but one with a lot of discussions, emotions and send-offs. In Ruhr Nachrichten, Mario Götze who saw the red card after a possible assault on Hanno Baltisch comments on the situation.
Mario Götze on the situation of his send-off
"Hanno Balitsch hits me from behind and contrives with my leg. I have watched the scene on Saturday night for 50 times from different camera angles and felt at 50 times what I'm saying to you right now. The point is: Balitsch is behind me. If I really wanted to assault him, I would have had to hit into the opposite direction – but I didn't do that. It's an absurdity that this scene was evaluated as an assault. It was no assault, it was absolutely nothing. Afterwards, Hanno asked me what I have done. I told him that I didn't know that, too. That's why I asked the referee who told me that I had retaliated."
... on his reactions and the accuses of having spit at Balitsch
"If he sees it that way, I can't change that. I was told afterwards that Mr. Stark told journalists that I even would had spit at Balitsch. I can only assure: I am not the kind of guy doing an assault. And spitting is even worse. I spit at the pitch, that's all. If you watch the scene from the long shot, you can see that Balitsch is ten meters away at this point. That's why I can't understand that Stark claims that I spit in the direction of Balitsch. I even asked him what I have done. However, spitting was not the topic then."
... on the consequences of his send-off
"It's true that we were not dominant in the first half, we were not good enough. We had no control, neither in the midfield nor in the forward and allowed plenty of chances. Leverkusen worked against the ball very well and that's why it was hard to play our way. I think you could see that. But the red card against Kadlec was like a wake-up call for us. Afterwards, we were in a key position. It is sad for the team that I was sent off. Until that point, we all had the feeling that the victory was still possible."
However, Götze was not the only one getting in trouble with the officials on Saturday. Basic trainer Buvac was sent to the dressing room, skipper Sebastian Kehl was not allowed to enter the pitch in the last minutes of the game. The explanations of the referees who are quoted by Borussians in Ruhr Nachrichten sound a little bit weird. "I shouted "Substitution" for two times. The first time, Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Salver (both assistants of Wofgang Stark, the editor) talked to each other. At the second try, they both just did nothing", says Jürgen Klopp who wanted to get Kehl into the game starting at minute 85. After the match, Klopp asked Mr. Salver for an explanation who said: "You need to work on your body language." Klopp then argued that his intention was not to go for a tactital substitution to buy some time but to get a player into the game who is strong in the air. Salver told him that he could have done that ten minutes earlier. Klopp: "I asked: Now you tell me when I have to go for a sub?"
Skipper Kehl was not backed up by the coach after Kehl pushed the assistant: "That's something you can't do and Sebastian knows that", says Klopp. However, he pointed out that the scene was not as big in reality as it could had seemed on the TV. "There were two or three situations in which substitutions would have been possible. However, I am not allowed to touch him though", said Kehl who visited the fourth official after the match and apologized. "I hope that we won't have to talk about that anymore."
But this is not sure since the DFB will investigate the cases of Götze, Buvac and Kehl over the week – possible blockings for the three are coming up.
Vanni, 29.08.2011
Source: Ruhr Nachrichten
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