Bayer Leverkusen’s shocking elimination from the DFB Pokal semifinals has left a sour taste. The team’s executive director, Fernando Carro, is pointing fingers – at the pitch. He’s furious that the hosts, Arminia Bielefeld, didn’t water the grass before the game.
Carro let his emotions spill out after the 1-2 loss: “I was outraged before the game because the pitch wasn’t watered! I have to tell Rettig, the general manager of the German Football Federation, about this!” According to Bild, Carro plans to file a complaint with Andreas Rettig to get some answers.
While Carro also criticized his team’s performance, he kept harping on about the pitch. “It was a collective failure, but it bothers me that the pitch wasn’t watered. That’s a regulation issue. The DFB should impose a sanction! It’s totally unacceptable!”
Arminia Bielefeld Responds
The “water trick,” as Bild called it, wasn’t a surprise to Arminia’s coach, Michel Kniat. He had anticipated this move after finding out they’d face Leverkusen in the semifinals. “Maybe we should build a gray pitch for Arminia to have a chance,” he joked at the time.
Michael Mutzel, Arminia’s sports director, explained why they didn’t water the pitch before the game: “We don’t do that for any league game. Why would we do it today? It would have hurt us if we had watered the pitch!” A watered pitch is generally faster and gives the technically stronger team an advantage – something Bielefeld wanted to avoid.
DFB Weighs In
Arminia consulted the DFB regulations and claims they followed the rules. “We discussed watering the pitch with the referee before the game. If it was watered in the morning, there’s no need to do it again,” Mutzel said. When asked by Bild, he added, “You can water it anytime during the day, whenever you want.” Coach Michel Kniat put his foot down: “Those are our rules here. Period!”