Noah Atubolu fumes over non-foul call after loss against Bayern Munich | OneFootball

Bayern Munich’s 2-1 Bundesliga win over SC Freiburg on Saturday did not come without its share of controversy, at least from SCF keeper Noah Atubolu’s perspective. The young goalkeeper didn’t look particularly strong in the air against FCB defender Min-Jae Kim for the Rekordmeister’s second goal. Atubolu nevertheless contended that Kim had fouled him on the play.

In the 22-year-old’s opinion, match official Daniel Siebert should have disallowed the goal. Atubolu complained to the referee that the play should be reviewed, only to receive a yellow card in his Bundesliga career for dissent. Atubolu spoke on the incident both in his post-match interview with Sky Germany and in the mixed zone.

“For me, [Joshua] Kimmich shot the ball at goal,” Atubolu explained. “If I didn’t contest the ball, it would have gone into the back of the net. If I’m blocked like that when taking on a shot, I don’t know if it’s legal. If Kim pushes me into the goal with his hand and I lose my balance when I jump, then I can’t stand stable.”

“It looked like a 50-50 decision,” Atubolu said later in the mixed zone. “I think you could have whistled that. I don’t understand [the VAR protocols]. Some scenes are looked at. Some aren’t.

“He [match-official Siebert] didn’t want to hear it,” Atubolu continued. “I was so annoyed that I had to take it [the yellow automatically doled out to non-squad captains addressing the ref in accordance with Bundesliga rules]. It’s annoying for all of us as we could have gotten more out of it.”

For his part, Freiburg trainer Julian Schuster expressed understanding for Atubolu’s position at the post-match press conference.

“There have been situations in the past where these moments were enough to call a foul,” the coach said. “It’s not much, but it definitely affects the goalkeeper’s defending in that situation.“

GGFN | Peter Weis