“The referee made the game exciting” – Granit Xhaka takes aim after dubious penalty decision | OneFootball

Bayer Leverkusen were in a comfortable 3-1 lead prior to Borussia Dortmund’s 79th minute penalty, a decision that Granit Xhaka questioned. Edmond Tapsoba had brought down Julien Duranville with a stray arm and despite referee Tobias Stieler initially allowing play to continue, he pointed to the penalty spot after VAR intervened.

“Until the penalty, Dortmund didn’t have any great chances at all,” Xhaka told DAZN. “The referee made things exciting again,” after Serhou Guirassy brought Dortmund to within one goal.

Analysing the penalty decision, Xhaka added: “For me, that’s never a penalty.

“If there’s a penalty for something like that, then you have to give a penalty for almost every action in the penalty area. We also had an action against Patrik Schick before half-time.”

Prior to the break, Patrick Schick – who scored a brace on the night – had his shirt pulled by Karim Adeyemi in the area following a Leverkusen corner, but nothing came of it.

Although Bayer Leverkusen move to within one point of Bayern Munich, who play Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga Topspiel, Xhaka is focused only on what Leverkusen can do: “We’re not looking at Bayern, we’re looking at ourselves.”

GGFN | Daniel Pinder