Referee Explains Werder Red Cards: 'Limit Was No Longer Tolerable' | OneFootball

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The narrow 1-0 win of Werder Bremen over FSV Mainz 05 was overshadowed by a late controversy surrounding referee Martin Petersen. The referee sent off two Bremen players in the injury time within just ten seconds with a yellow-red card.

First, he punished Niklas Stark for a time play, whereupon Marco Friedl complained and also received a red card. Shortly after the final whistle, the visibly upset coach Ole Werner also saw the straight red card.

The 36-year-old apologized later on the 'DAZN' microphone for his behavior. And Petersen also confirmed in the TV interview that Werner had asked him for forgiveness in the dressing room.

📸 Christof Koepsel - 2025 Getty Images

Petersen justified Stark's red card as follows: "Towards the end of the game, there were increasingly frequent game delays. The goalkeeper of Bremen was already warned." Therefore, in this case, "a certain limit" had been reached, whereupon he first distributed the yellow and finally the yellow-red card.

The situation with Werder captain Friedl was different. "It was rather the way he did it," Petersen reported: "The player runs after me, touches me several times on the back and doesn't stop. At some point, a limit is also reached with the captain that is no longer tolerable."

What do you think: Did referee Petersen make the correct decision? Or should one have evaluated the respective situations differently?

📸 Christof Koepsel - 2025 Getty Images