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When Franz Beckenbauer spoke up, many people used to put their ears on the air immediately.
For our last emperor tended to say this today, that tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow the opposite.
More and more Germans have recently begun to apologize to him, at least with regard to his unforgettable thesis: "The EU in Brussels is only home to failed existences that have been chased away by their governments - this is the largest club in Europe."
Spontaneously everyone will nod loudly who exposed their upper arm at Christmas willing to be vaccinated, but have since been waiting desperately for the syringe with the substance that these rivets cannot get.
Why are we telling the story?
Because Beckenbauer's painful discovery puts his finger in a wound that points to a general galloping trend and lets evil tongues blaspheme: Those who are no good in politics go to Brussels - and those who cannot do anything in football become referees.
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Gian Piero Gasperini sees it that way too.
He is the coach of Atalanta Bergamo and has been thinking of Tobias Stieler, the German referee, for a bottle or, to put it more politely in football jargon, a whistle since the middle of last week.
Emergency brake?
Gian Piero Gasperini was beside himself and verbally added up after the game
Source: REUTERS
When the Italians 0-1 in the Champions League against Real Madrid, Stieler assessed the foul by a Bergamo defender as an emergency brake and pulled what is known as the ass card from his back pocket, i.e. smooth red. Gasperini was furious and demanded loudly: "There shouldn't be any referees who haven't played themselves and don't recognize the difference between a tackle and a foul."
In the past, the club bosses were considered to be the clueless, who did not know whether a ball was round or square and hollow on the inside or made of hard rubber.
“They believe that the ball bounces because there is a frog in it,” said Viennese slacker Max Merkel, who was the Bundesliga coaching guru.
Now it's the referees.
Where was the whistle, Guido Winkmann?
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Which brings us to Saturday.
Six officials, armed with whistle, flags and the sharpest video images, could have easily prevented the most hair-raising wrong decision of the 23rd matchday on the occasion of the match between Stuttgart and Schalke, but instead they overlooked the clearest penalty since God created the stretched leg.
In the 19th minute, the Schalke Thiaw felled the Stuttgart Wamangituka in the penalty area with the ax, and the tree fell.
Thiaw fouls Wamangituka, there is no whistle
Source: pa / press photo Ru / Herbert Rudel
Everyone saw it, millions on the screen even at first glance, even before slow motion - but where was the whistle?
Was Guido Winkmann, the referee, blinded by the low sun?
Didn't his two linesmen, especially the one with a clear view of the nefarious deed, want to disturb him during his afternoon nap?
Was the fourth referee on the sidelines talking to your loved one at home?
And why did Sascha Stegemann, the video assistant in the notorious Cologne basement, supported by his second assistant, the Winkmann over the hot wire, immediately give a yelling “Foul!
Penalty kick!
Check! ”Shouted in the ear?
Has Stegemann just ordered a pizza from the delivery service?
Was he taking a quick breath or peeing?
Which chain of unhappy perceptions was there, which blackouts, which pupil opacities?
Question after question.
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Only Didi Hamann, the TV expert in the Sky studio, knew the right answer.
"Clear penalty," said Didi.
The first, mere look was enough for him.
Even the face of the foul sinner Thiaw told him everything, this spontaneous expression of guilty conscience.
"As a referee, you actually immediately know what that means," says Hamann.
One look is enough: Dietmar Hamann (right) played for Bayern and Liverpool, among others
Source: Getty Images / Boris Streubel
He was a professional, like Bergamo's coach Gasperini, so he also knows the difference between a tackle and a foul, but unfortunately an ex-national player rarely becomes a referee.
Especially professionals often have a hard time with the referees.
Fredi Bobic, Frankfurt's current manager, was once famous with the curse: “Blind sausage!” When served with a cucumber salad, the food is quickly indigestible.
We also think of Peter Stöger spontaneously.
The Viennese coached Cologne at the time, and they lost a game against Hanover because a rascal named Leon Andreasen was allowed to score the goal of the day with an outstretched arm with impunity.
Stöger immediately went uphill angrily on the sidelines (“I offered the linesman my glasses, but he didn't see that either”) - but his philosophy that glasses help to see things through and football shouldn't blindly trust referees who rely on Leaving the perception of their corns did not prevail at the end of the day.
The terrible consequences can now be seen again and again, as is now the case in Stuttgart. The inadequacy of the decision-makers there did not decide the game, but the elbow freedom of human error should nevertheless be curbed on occasion. The fan, shaken in his trust, otherwise completely loses faith in the good in the referees and may at some point, like Franz, demand: “Off to Brussels!” There they need every whistle at the annual football tournament between the seven parliamentary groups of the EU Parliament.