There are far too many so-called wisdoms in the world of football, but some of them simply cannot be refuted.

For example this: A good referee is one you don't talk about.

That's just how it is.

And that doesn't speak for Felix Zwayer from Berlin, a referee who has actually been talked about far too much in recent years to be considered good.

On Saturday evening, when the Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern Munich was over, almost everyone was talking about Zwayer again. Above all those who wore a BVB logo on their clothes. "Now it's the case that a shitty penalty decides the game," said defensive specialist Emre Can. "If I see the action again, I have to say that he should have watched it again," said the offensive specialist Marco Reus.

“It's a shame that a game like this is decided that way.

The game deserves a different outcome and a different decision-making process, ”said coach Marco Rose.

This could have been classified as an unreflective way of dealing with the 3-2 defeat - possibly a decisive one in the duel for the championship.

If it hadn't been for Thomas Müller, the diplomat from Bavaria, who said that he could “understand” the “frustration and anger” about the referee's decisions.

Two scenes, one difference

Two controversial scenes in the penalty area sparked his sympathy. In the 53rd minute, Munich's Lucas pressed Hernández with his upper body and right arm against the back of Dortmund's Reus, who then fell. No whistle. In the 74th minute, Dortmund's Mats Hummels, pressed by the Munich miller, stumbled arm and head first into the ball, which plopped on his arm. No whistle. The difference: Zwayer didn't watch the first scene again on the sidelines. The second already - and, in cooperation with the video assistant, imposed the penalty that Robert Lewandowski converted to 3-2.

When the fans had already left the stadium, Zwayer tried to explain this difference in a "Sky" interview.

In the Reus scene - in which Erling Haaland would probably have had to consider a possible offside position - he perceived a “robust duel” that he did not want to punish because of his “generous line”.

In the Hummels scene he perceived the "factual contact" with the arm, but not whether and how it was stretched away from the body and was therefore punishable.

That sounded understandable - and at the same time left understanding for Emre Can, who said: "Now we're talking about the referee again and unfortunately it was too often for Bayern in the past."

You are not spreading a conspiracy theory when you say that Bayern in the Bundesliga can be happier with the decisions of the referees than their rival from the Ruhr area.

That shouldn't cover up the fact that Dortmund defended incorrectly or even terribly in this duel.

But neither should one ignore the feeling of inequality.

One player spoke to it with a sharp tongue.

The 18-year-old Englishman Jude Bellingham told the Swedish streaming service “Viaplay”: “You give a referee who has already postponed games the biggest game in Germany.

What do you expect?"

That was an allusion to the Hoyzer scandal, in which Zwayer had accepted 300 euros in May 2004 before the game Wuppertaler SV against Werder Bremen II to help as a line judge "avoid critical situations for Wuppertaler SV". So it is in a judgment of the DFB sports court, which banned Zwayer for six months. The DFB, which then further promoted today's Fifa referee Zwayer, hid the penalty, which only became public through research. And people are apparently still talking in the Bundesliga cabins.

Two considerations should now follow from the referee discussions of the top game.

One should think about adapting the intervention guidelines for the video assistant, especially for contentious penalty area scenes.

By checking either all of these scenes or even less on the screen.

On the other hand, you should think about whether you will continue to entrust Felix Zwayer with such top games.

This time - unlike in a number of other national and international games - he didn't make a blatantly wrong decision.

On the other hand, as the statements from Dortmund suggest, he has lost the most important currency that a referee has: the respect of the players.