Referee Siebert admits he should have given Borussia Dortmund a penalty for Pavard’s challenge on Bellingham

Referee Daniel Siebert has admitted that he was wrong not to award Borussia Dortmund a penalty for Benjamin Pavard’s challenge on Jude Bellingham on Saturday evening.

Bayern Munich claimed a 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund on Saturday evening to clinch the Bundesliga title. But the Black and Yellows were left frustrated after referee Daniel Siebert failed to award them a penalty in the second half when Bayern’s Benjamin Pavard brought down Jude Bellingham inside the box.

Siebert has now admitted that he got the decision wrong, and that the incident should have resulted in a penalty for Borussia Dortmund. In an interview with Kicker, Siebert said:

"“Pavard did not play the ball, his leg instead created an obstacle in Bellingham’s path. Therefore, it was a foul. The fact that Pavard touched the ball shortly afterwards is irrelevant. Penalty kick would have been the right decision.”“On the pitch, Pavard’s tackle obscured my view of the decisive contact. As a referee, I cannot decide on suspicion, but can only decide to give a penalty kick if I clearly see contact that is punishable. However, in this case the punishable contact by Pavard on Bellingham is clearly recognizable.”"

Replays clearly showed Pavard did not play the ball and fouled Bellingham before his leg touched the ball. VAR did review the incident, but Siebert was not asked to head over to the pitch-side monitor and take another look.

Both Marco Rose and Sebastian Kehl criticised the decision after the game, with Borussia Dortmund’s incoming sporting director lamenting the fact that they have had to deal with poor refereeing decisions in both their league games against Bayern Munich this season.

Bayern were leading 2-1 when the incident occurred. And had Borussia Dortmund been awarded a penalty then, it could have completely changed the course of the game.

Similarly, the score was 2-2 in the reverse fixture when BVB were denied what looked like a clear penalty. Bayern were then awarded a rather dubious penalty and went on to win the game 3-2.

Siebert also admitted that he made a mistake by not giving Pavard a yellow card in the 49th minute for his foul on Julian Brandt.