Werder Bremen described their away win at Mainz 05 last Sunday as a victory of will and morale. After an hour, SVW had to continue playing with a man down – at that point the score was still 1:1. Last-minute signing Derrick Köhn scored the winning goal nine minutes later as a substitute.
Captain Marco Friedl was previously sent off for an emergency stop. The central defender fouled FSV striker Jonathan Burkardt and was sent off with a straight red card by referee Benjamin Brand. On Wednesday, the DFB sports court announced Friedl’s suspension: the 26-year-old must watch two games for “unsportsmanlike conduct”. This means he will not only miss the home game against FC Bayern, but also the away game at TSG Hoffenheim.
In Bremen, they had hoped that the captain would only be suspended for one game. Although a two-game suspension is usual for an emergency stop, Werder fought for a lesser punishment. The reason for this was seen as the defender’s “ball-oriented tackling behavior.” Two years ago, Werder and Friedl were successful with an appeal against a two-game suspension – also after an emergency stop. To do this, the club would have to appeal against the DFB ruling this time too.
It is not clear from the club’s statement whether they intend to do this. However, Werder also refrained from using the usual phrase that they had agreed to the ruling and that it was therefore legally binding.
However, after the Mainz game, Frield himself was skeptical that he would be able to avoid a two-game ban. “Of course I hit him. But I also hit the ball short. I think it’s a tough decision. You can give it, but you don’t have to. I’m expecting a classic two-game ban,” said the Austrian.
Most recently, RB Leipzig lodged an appeal against the sentence following an emergency stop by captain Willi Orban. When this appeal was rejected, the appeal was taken to the DFB Federal Court, which upheld the ban in the final instance. Friedl’s prospects are now likely to be slim.
