Jude Bellingham: Borussia Dortmund midfielder criticises referee Felix Zwayer after Bayern Munich loss

Jude Bellingham has hit out at the performance of referee Felix Zwayer during Borussia Dortmund’s 3-2 defeat by Bayern Munich.

Dortmund were left frustrated after Zwayer turned down their appeals for a penalty kick, only to award Bayern one for a Mats Hummels handball.

Robert Lewandowski stepped up and scored what proved to the winner against his old club, in front of a restricted attendance at Signal Iduna Park.

Bellingham told ViaPlay after the game: “You give a referee, that has match fixed before, the biggest game in Germany, what do you expect?

“For me, it wasn’t [a penalty]. He [Hummels] is not even looking at the ball and he’s fighting to get it and it hits him.

“You can look at a lot of the decisions in the game.”

Zwayer, who was handed a six-month ban by the German FA in 2005 following a match-fixing scandal, was heavily criticised by the hosts but Bellingham could yet be charged for his post-match comments.

Dortmund boss Marco Rose was sent to the stands after criticising the Bayern penalty award, which came following a VAR review in the 77th minute.

Defending his decisions, Zwayer told Sky Germany: “The situation was a standard corner kick.

“I see in the game that it’s about a touch by Hummels. The question for me was: Is the arm stretched away from the body or not? In real time, it was not clear whether his arm was moved towards the ball.

“I checked it with [VAR officials] in Cologne and then the arm position was checked.

“The video assistant made an assessment for himself and said that Hummels had his arm away from the body in an unnatural position.

“In the end, he clearly deflected the ball with his elbow and I came to the decision that it was a penalty.”

Earlier in the second half, Dortmund captain Marco Reus went down in the box following a challenge by Lucas Hernandez but no VAR referral was forthcoming on that occasion.

“It was a contact in the upper body area, which is allowed to happen even at high speed,” Zwayer added.

‘The situation is not black and white, I decided against the penalty because of my line of sight.”

No fans for Bayern vs Barca in CL
On Friday, the governor of the German state of Bavaria announced no supporters will be allowed in the stadium when Bayern host Barcelona in the Champions League next week.

Despite the maximum attendance limit of 15,000, individual states are allowed to set stricter rules if they wish and Markus Sder confirmed Bavaria will bar fans from sports events from Saturday.

Bayern have already qualified for the knockout stages but Barcelona will be eliminated if from the competition if they fail to win and Benfica beat Dynamo Kyiv.

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