German referee Deniz Aiken lost his temper and harsh words against a former colleague who criticized his performance during the Bayern Munich and Leipzig match in the local league.
Aitken managed the summit of the 33rd round of the “Bundesliga”, which brought together Bayern Munich and Leipzig at the “Allianz Arena”, on Saturday, which ended with the victory of the second, 3-1.
Aitken quickly responded to the criticism leveled at him by his compatriot Manuel Greif, a former referee working for a German channel, because of the shot from which Leipzig scored his first goal.
In that shot, Leipzig succeeded in scoring the equalizer 1-1, and the guest team quickly succeeded in turning the tables on Bayern Munich by scoring two more goals from the penalty mark.
⚽️🔥 Konrad Leimer equalized the score for Iipzig from a quick counterattack#Bundesliga | #Bayern Munich | #leipzig#Bundesliga pic.twitter.com/d4RLx1DlI9
– beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) May 20, 2023
And Greif believes that Aitken should have counted a foul in favor of Leon Goritska, the Bavarian team player, instead of continuing to play.
During an interview with Bayern Munich player Thomas Mueller after the match, he picked up Aiken’s voice saying: “He (Grif) sits in Berlin with his weight of 180 kilograms and says nonsense, I’m fed up,” as highlighted by the network.Sky Sports(sky sports) German.
And “Sky Sports” confirms that the 44-year-old referee apologized to Mueller for influencing him during his television interview.
Deniz Aytekin auf 180. Thomas Müller: „Da hören wir gespannt zu!” pic.twitter.com/gNzVZT7qqI
– SPORT1 (@SPORT1) May 21, 2023
Later, Aitken apologized for his statements, stressing that he was not successful in choosing words, but at the same time he still insisted on his criticism of Manuel Griff.
“I crossed the line,” Aitken said.
Aitken was the subject of great controversy after leading the Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain match in the second leg of the final price of the Champions League for the 2016-2017 season.
On that day, Barcelona achieved the biggest return in the history of football, by winning 6-1, but the performance of the German referee sparked controversy due to the awarding of two penalties to the Catalan team, which caused a lot of ink.
😱😱😱 Unbelievable, remarkable, historic…
Paris 4-0 Barcelona (Agg: 4-0)
Barcelona 6-1 Paris (Agg: 6-5)🔵🔴 One of the greatest European comebacks of all time #OTD in 2017 🔥#UCL | #OnThisDay | @FCBarcelona pic.twitter.com/mOAFqd1PA4
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 8, 2020
It is noteworthy that Bayern Munich fell to second place in the Bundesliga standings table, after defeating Borussia Dortmund at its host Augsburg 3-0, for the same round.
The Bavarian giant is now threatened with losing the league title for the first time in 10 years, and it has no choice but to lose Dortmund in the last match against Mainz, scheduled for Saturday, May 27, provided that it beats Cologne at the same time.