Overview
- Referee Deniz Aytekin awarded three penalties in Borussia Mönchengladbach’s 3–1 win over 1. FC Köln, including two after video assistant Benjamin Cortus sent him to the monitor.
- Köln coach Lukas Kwasniok said he "hates" the system and argued the video team now overrules the on‑field referee, while Gladbach’s Eugen Polanski also rejected the current use of VAR.
- Aytekin defended the reviewed calls by citing a clear knee contact and a handball he could not see due to a blocked view, but he acknowledged Köln’s stoppage‑time penalty was a "harsh" decision.
- The controversy extended beyond the derby as Union’s Steffen Baumgart railed at a five‑millimeter offside that canceled a goal against Bayern, and Augsburg’s Keven Schlotterbeck blasted a VAR‑awarded penalty at Stuttgart.
- Sky pundit Lothar Matthäus urged the DFL to deliver a unified standard for evaluations, while Dortmund executive Sebastian Ricken rejected a proposed coach challenge and called for perfecting the existing framework.