Borussia Dortmund players question penalty decision after Gladbach draw

Borussia Dortmund players were not happy after the referee awarded Borussia Mönchengladbach a penalty that proved to be decisive in the 1-1 draw between the two sides on Saturday evening.

Nuri Sahin's side failed to register their first away win of the season in the Bundesliga on Saturday as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Borussia Mönchengladbach. Despite dominating the game and taking the lead through Jamie Gittens in the second-half, Borussia Dortmund failed to claim the three points as Gladbach were awarded a penalty for a foul from Pascal Groß on Tim Kleindienst.

Referee Tobias Stieler had earlier decided against awarding Gladbach a penalty, before VAR intervened and asked him to take another look at the monitor. Stieler then pointed to the spot, and Kevin Stöger stepped up to score the equalising goal for the home side.

Pascal Groß, Nico Schlotterbeck question decision to award penalty against Borussia Dortmund

After the game, Groß felt that awarding Gladbach a penalty was a wrong decision and shared his thoughts (via BVB). "For me it's not a penalty, clearly not in fact, and certainly not one where a video referee should be allowed to intervene. It wasn't a wrong decision. And if you look at his position [Kleindienst] in the challenge, he is using both hands, me too, I'm not pulling his shirt, we're pushing against each other, never a penalty for me."

Nico Schlotterbeck had a similar view and was left aggrieved with the decision. "That's not a penalty! Pascal is only watching the ball. He pulls, Tim pulls too. No offence to the referee, but for me as a defender there wasn't much in that. There are a lot of these duels taking place at corners."

Borussia Dortmund will certainly be frustrated with the result, having failed to put an end to their winless run away from home in the Bundesliga. The Black and Yellows now find themselves 12 points behind league leaders Bayern Munich and three points shy of fourth placed RB Leipzig.