The Bundesliga’s leading goalscorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang bagged goals 19 and 20 in Borussia Dortmund’s 2-0 home victory over FC Ingolstadt. The bigger talking points however, were supplied by World Champion Mats Hummels who benefitted from two controversial calls by referee Guido Winkmann. As usual, the BVB skipper immediately faced the questions directed at him after the game and DFB.de gathered his reaction.
Question: Mr. Hummels, let’s start with the controversial scene in the 65th minute when you scored an own goal which the referee ruled out. Were you fouled before trying to pass the ball?
Mats Hummels: I’m really surprised about this entire discussion. It was a clear foul. Everyone who has played football before knows that even the smallest contact with someone who is running or trying to execute a pass can have a big impact. If I hadn’t been fouled, I would’ve passed the ball back to our keeper cleanly. The contact made things change. For me, these type of situations are indisputable, although I understand that it’s sometimes difficult to see on TV what actually happened.
Question: So before the ball left your foot, you were clipped?
Hummels: Exactly. Whilst attempting to play the pass I took a knock. Again, if he doesn’t touch me I would just pass the ball back flat on the ground.
Question: There was some confusion in the immediate aftermath of that scene, as it wasn’t exactly clear what the referee had decided upon. What was it like from your perspective?
Hummels: At first I thought he was going to let the goal stand, because the Ingolstadt players were celebrating. But the referee later told me that his assistant had directly contacted him and informed him that a foul had occurred, which is why he disallowed the goal.
Question: What about the scene in the first half when you were involved with a challenge inside your penalty area, before Lukasz Piszczek cleared the ball off the line?
Hummels: I watched a replay of that scene after the game. At the time I thought I’d committed a foul but things look more innocuous on TV. After watching that scene again, I would say that he could’ve just stayed on his feet and scored. I don’t think that my tackle was the reason why he went down. In the end I was just trying to make it as difficult as possible for him, without committing a clear foul. Apparently it worked. But the bottom line is that about 50 percent of the time that would have been a penalty.
Question: It was quite a tough battle for Dortmund. How did Ingolstadt manage to make life so hard for you?
Hummels: We expected a tough opponent. Ingolstadt continued where they left off in Munich. We rarely managed to prevail from one-on-one situations, which meant we weren’t able to unhinge their defensive organisation that often. That was our problem. Ingolstadt on the other hand were well organised, aggressive and worked hard. I’ve not often seen a player make as many tracking back sprints as Mathew Leckie did today. He was closing down Piszczek like a maniac at times. Ingolstadt played a very good game in regard to their attitude and tactics.
Question: What could you’ve done better against a visitor who played with an unusually high line?
Hummels: Win more one-on-one situations. If the opponent is man-marking your team mates and you manage to get past your marker, you suddenly create massive amounts of space for yourself. But that’s exactly what we lacked today.
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The Bundesliga’s leading goalscorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang bagged goals 19 and 20 in Borussia Dortmund’s 2-0 home victory over FC Ingolstadt. The bigger talking points however, were supplied by World Champion Mats Hummels who benefitted from two controversial calls by referee Guido Winkmann. As usual, the BVB skipper immediately faced the questions directed at him after the game and DFB.de gathered his reaction.
Question: Mr. Hummels, let’s start with the controversial scene in the 65th minute when you scored an own goal which the referee ruled out. Were you fouled before trying to pass the ball?
Mats Hummels: I’m really surprised about this entire discussion. It was a clear foul. Everyone who has played football before knows that even the smallest contact with someone who is running or trying to execute a pass can have a big impact. If I hadn’t been fouled, I would’ve passed the ball back to our keeper cleanly. The contact made things change. For me, these type of situations are indisputable, although I understand that it’s sometimes difficult to see on TV what actually happened.
Question: So before the ball left your foot, you were clipped?
Hummels: Exactly. Whilst attempting to play the pass I took a knock. Again, if he doesn’t touch me I would just pass the ball back flat on the ground.
Question: There was some confusion in the immediate aftermath of that scene, as it wasn’t exactly clear what the referee had decided upon. What was it like from your perspective?
Hummels: At first I thought he was going to let the goal stand, because the Ingolstadt players were celebrating. But the referee later told me that his assistant had directly contacted him and informed him that a foul had occurred, which is why he disallowed the goal.
Question: What about the scene in the first half when you were involved with a challenge inside your penalty area, before Lukasz Piszczek cleared the ball off the line?
Hummels: I watched a replay of that scene after the game. At the time I thought I’d committed a foul but things look more innocuous on TV. After watching that scene again, I would say that he could’ve just stayed on his feet and scored. I don’t think that my tackle was the reason why he went down. In the end I was just trying to make it as difficult as possible for him, without committing a clear foul. Apparently it worked. But the bottom line is that about 50 percent of the time that would have been a penalty.
Question: It was quite a tough battle for Dortmund. How did Ingolstadt manage to make life so hard for you?
Hummels: We expected a tough opponent. Ingolstadt continued where they left off in Munich. We rarely managed to prevail from one-on-one situations, which meant we weren’t able to unhinge their defensive organisation that often. That was our problem. Ingolstadt on the other hand were well organised, aggressive and worked hard. I’ve not often seen a player make as many tracking back sprints as Mathew Leckie did today. He was closing down Piszczek like a maniac at times. Ingolstadt played a very good game in regard to their attitude and tactics.
Question: What could you’ve done better against a visitor who played with an unusually high line?
Hummels: Win more one-on-one situations. If the opponent is man-marking your team mates and you manage to get past your marker, you suddenly create massive amounts of space for yourself. But that’s exactly what we lacked today.
