As Bayern Munich lost 3-2 to Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga,AMP Julian Nagelsmann was incensed by Dayot Upamecano’s dismissal.
Alassane Plea got goal-side of the center-back after a hopeful long ball, and Upamecano was judged to have brought Plea down in the eighth minute.
Goals from Lars Stindl, Jonas Hofmann and Marcus Thuram lifted Gladbach to a deserved win. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting equalised after Stindl’s opener for Bayern, but Mathys Tel’s late strike was scant consolation.
The loss puts Bayern in danger of dropping to second place when Union Berlin plays Schalke on Sunday, while Borussia Dortmund will have the chance to catch Nagelsmann’s Bavarians level on points when they host Hertha Berlin.
Nagelsmann reportedly stormed through the media area after the game to angrily knock on referee Tobias Welz’s door. Nagelsmann appeared less concerned with Bayern’s standing in the league and more focused on the referee.
Afterwards, he told Sky: “In my eyes, Upa has only a minimal touch on his shoulder, but he doesn’t pull.
“And you can see in the slow motion that Plea’s shoulder does not move back a millimetre.”
Insisting Welz should have explained himself, Nagelsmann added: “You can decide all this, but maybe you could stand up after the game and say that the red card might have been a bit exaggerated.
“Everyone can live with it, he is also a person who sometimes makes mistakes.”
Bayern’s Alphonso Davies, on the other hand, expressed pride in the team’s character after going down to 10 men.
“It’s tough having a red card so early in the match,” Davies told Bundesliga.com.
“It’s not good for any team, but we just kept fighting, we kept playing the way we knew how to play. We continued on.
“I mean, it’s unfortunate with the red card. You know, it can happen to anyone. We don’t put our head down. We kept our head up, we kept fighting.”