Skip to main content

Ref apologizes to beaten Dortmund

December 8, 2012 -- Updated 2306 GMT (0706 HKT)
Borussia Dortmund's Mats Hummels, left, and Mario Gotze confront referee Wolfgang Stark after Saturday's defeat.
Borussia Dortmund's Mats Hummels, left, and Mario Gotze confront referee Wolfgang Stark after Saturday's defeat.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Referee admits he was wrong to send off Borussia Dortmund player
  • Marcel Schmelzer was red-carded for handball in 3-2 defeat by Wolfsburg
  • Wolfsburg scored from penalty as champions fell 14 points behind Bayern Munich
  • Bayern went 11 points clear of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen after Saturday's win

(CNN) -- Borussia Dortmund's German title defense suffered a big blow on Saturday with a controversial 3-2 home defeat by Wolfsburg.

It left Jurgen Klopp's third-placed team, seeking a third successive Bundesliga crown, 14 points behind runaway leaders Bayern Munich.

The match turned in the 35th minute when referee Wolfgang Stark ruled that Marcel Schmelzer handled the ball on the line, despite it appearing to hit him in the leg.

Stark sent off the Dortmund defender and awarded a penalty that Diego converted to level the score at 1-1.

"I've looked at it again later and unfortunately it was an error of perception on my part," Stark told reporters.

Dynamo Kiev's Ideye Brown fights for the ball with Dinamo Zagreb's Domagoj Vida in a game which was halted after 11 minutes following a snow storm in Croatia. The teams returned to the field after a 17 minute delay and played out a 1-1 draw Dynamo Kiev's Ideye Brown fights for the ball with Dinamo Zagreb's Domagoj Vida in a game which was halted after 11 minutes following a snow storm in Croatia. The teams returned to the field after a 17 minute delay and played out a 1-1 draw
Let it snow
HIDE CAPTION
<<
<
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
>
>>
Champions League action Champions League action
The Schalke Fan Feld, whose centerpiece will be a club logo made up of blue and white flowers lying between two goals, looks directly on to the Bundesliga club's home stadium - the white domed Veltins-Arena, which can be seen in the gap between the trees in this picture. The Schalke Fan Feld, whose centerpiece will be a club logo made up of blue and white flowers lying between two goals, looks directly on to the Bundesliga club's home stadium - the white domed Veltins-Arena, which can be seen in the gap between the trees in this picture.
Final resting place
HIDE CAPTION
<<
<
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
>
>>
From the cradle to the grave From the cradle to the grave
The "Footbonaut" -- is a robotic cage which footballers can use to improve passing, spatial awareness and control. The machine is being used by German champions Borussia Dortmund. The "Footbonaut" -- is a robotic cage which footballers can use to improve passing, spatial awareness and control. The machine is being used by German champions Borussia Dortmund.
The final frontier?
HIDE CAPTION
<<
<
1
2
3
4
5
>
>>
Dortmund\'s training pays dividends Dortmund's training pays dividends

"I'm sorry, that should not happen. The penalty and the red card were a mistake on my part. That's annoying."

Klopp was left to rue the consequences, as struggling Wolfsburg went on to win with goals from Naldo and Bas Dost -- whose shot had earlier hit Schmelzer.

"We were 1-0 ahead and Wolfsburg had no chance and then comes the game-winning move. It was a brutal decision," Klopp told reporters.

Bayern won 2-0 at Augsburg to move 11 points clear of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen, who travel to Hanover on Sunday.

Thomas Muller opened the scoring six minutes before halftime with a penalty, his eighth goal in the league this season, after Gibril Sankoh handled Toni Kroos' pass.

Substitute Mario Gomez continued his comeback from longterm injury with the second soon after his introduction on the hour mark. The Germany striker followed up his midweek goal in the Champions League win over BATE Borisov for his third strike since starting his season late last month.

Eintracht Frankfurt joined Dortmund on 27 points from 16 matches with a 4-1 win over Werder Bremen, while Schalke dropped to fifth after losing 3-1 at Stuttgart.

Vedad Ibisevic scored a hat-trick as Stuttgart joined Schalke on 25 points, taking the Bosnia striker's tally to 13 goals in all competitions this season.

Freiburg moved up to eighth with a 1-0 win over bottom club Furth, while Nuremberg stayed above Wolfsburg on goal difference after beating fellow strugglers Fortuna Dusseldorf 2-0

Hamburg ended the day seventh, having won 2-0 at home to Hoffenheim on Friday.

ADVERTISEMENT
Part of complete coverage on
CNN Football Club
Be part of CNN's coverage of European Champions League matches and join the social debate.
April 24, 2013 -- Updated 1434 GMT (2234 HKT)
Luis Suarez's biting of Branislav Ivanovic is the latest episode of moments of madness when soccer stars behave badly.
March 29, 2013 -- Updated 0938 GMT (1738 HKT)
Former South African president and Nobel peace prize laureate Nelson Mandela joins guests at his home in Cape Town, on August 20, 2008 to celebrate his 90th birthday year, at an event organised by the Mandela Rhodes Foundation (RODGER BOSCH
Sunderland's partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation is part of its bid to woo the African market.
March 28, 2013 -- Updated 1558 GMT (2358 HKT)
South African children play football in a township in Bloemfontein on June 21, 2010. South Africa will face France in their final Group A, 2010 World Cup, first round football match on June 22.
Each year as many as 700 Cameroonian young footballers leave Africa in search of a professional career abroad.
May 6, 2013 -- Updated 1201 GMT (2001 HKT)
Referees across Europe are feeling the heat. Insulted, threatened, chased off the field, attacked, hospitalized and, tragically, killed.
March 6, 2013 -- Updated 1345 GMT (2145 HKT)
A red card for Manchester United's Nani during Tuesday's loss to Real Madrid sparks huge social media reaction.
February 26, 2013 -- Updated 1225 GMT (2025 HKT)
A real human brain being displayed as part of new exhibition at the @Bristol attraction is seen on March 8, 2011 in Bristol, England. The Real Brain exhibit - which comes with full consent from a anonymous donor and needed full consent from the Human Tissue Authority - is suspended in large tank engraved with a full scale skeleton on one side and a diagram of the central nervous system on the other and is a key feature of the All About Us exhibition opening this week.
Footballers have a battery of physios, fitness trainers and doctors all striving to fine-tune their physique -- but are they missing a trick?
February 26, 2013 -- Updated 1424 GMT (2224 HKT)
No Englishman has won the EPL title in over 20 years, while a leading manager reveals that English coaches are now "not respected abroad."
May 13, 2013 -- Updated 0933 GMT (1733 HKT)
Football supporters demonstrate in front of Italian TV RAI after the match between A.C.Milan and Lazio Roma was cancelled 11 November 2007. The spectre of football violence resurged in Italy on Sunday as the shooting dead of a fan sparked nationwide disturbances which forced the suspension of several Serie A matches. Banner reads 'Racism can stop League but death of tifosi has no signification.
Hardcore Italian football "ultra" Federico is a Lazio supporter who happily admits directing monkey chants at black players.
March 5, 2013 -- Updated 1123 GMT (1923 HKT)
When Jupp Heynckes made his Bundesliga debut as a player in 1965, the name of Bayern Munich was a new one for the nascent German league.
February 19, 2013 -- Updated 1902 GMT (0302 HKT)
Football's world governing body FIFA has confirmed it will use goal-line technology at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
February 19, 2013 -- Updated 1403 GMT (2203 HKT)
Match-fixing has become a worldwide issue, with hundreds of matches under investigation -- but how do you actually fix a football game?
February 18, 2013 -- Updated 1700 GMT (0100 HKT)
U.S soccer star Robbie Rogers has "come out" as gay on the day he retired from the game, making the announcement on his blog.
February 11, 2013 -- Updated 2231 GMT (0631 HKT)
The wealth of owners like Chelsea's Roman Abramovich often fuels success, but for other clubs such backers prove a mixed blessing.
January 31, 2013 -- Updated 1740 GMT (0140 HKT)
Brand Beckham is moving from the "City of Angels" to the "City of Light" as the football icon signs a short-term deal and offers to give away his pay.
January 31, 2013 -- Updated 1247 GMT (2047 HKT)
Fireworks inside his own house, a car crash in his first week at Manchester City, that iconic t-shirt -- the EPL will miss Mario Balotelli.
January 30, 2013 -- Updated 1342 GMT (2142 HKT)
The Secret Footballer reveals the complex issues surrounding racism in the English Premier League.
January 30, 2013 -- Updated 1543 GMT (2343 HKT)
The death of 73 football fans in Port Said tragedy continues to haunt Egypt.
ADVERTISEMENT