Of course, even two days after the 1-1 draw against Werder, discussions about Felix Agu’s handball before Bremen’s equalizer hadn’t quite died down. Ex-FIFA referee Thorsten Kinhöfer had already let it be known that he considered handball to be punishable – and now the referee experts from Collina’s heirs also took a stand. Alex Feuerherdt, whose assessments can also often be heard on pay-TV broadcaster Sky, wrote on N-TV.de: “The referee rated Agu’s handball as not punishable, presumably because he considered the Bremen player’s arm position during handball to be part of it a natural movement to maintain balance and had no intention in the technical sense. However, Agu’s outstretched arm clearly went to the ball, and that with a weight shift of its own accord. VAR Storks therefore had good reasons to advise Badstübner to do a review.” Feuerherdt can understand the frustration on the part of the Kiezkicker: “Apart from those who supported Werder, there were also rather few who did not consider the handball and the referee to be punishable . Certainly not least because the advantage that Agu gained was so obvious.” In terms of rules, this is “not a criterion”, but “regardless,” Feuerherdt summed up, “due to the movement sequence and the arm position, he spoke about the the Bremers in possession of the ball could decide significantly more for a punishable handball”.
