"Very honourable": Bayern Munich's sporting director Max Eberl surprises everyone with praise for the referee

“It certainly felt as though every 50/50 decision went against us,” Eberl said in the mixed zone after the match. However, following a discussion with the referee, the Bayern boss struck a conciliatory tone: “I’ve just spoken to the referee; everything’s fine – it was a constructive conversation.”

Eberl praised Dingert, saying it was “very honourable” that, after reviewing the footage again, he had admitted he had wrongly sent Bayern’s Luis Diaz off with a second yellow card for an alleged dive. “It was clear to him that it was a dive, but he has now seen the footage and says it wasn’t a second yellow card.”

In the 84th minute, Diaz had dribbled into the penalty area towards Leverkusen goalkeeper Janis Blaswich and gone down. Dingert interpreted the incident on the pitch as a dive and sent the Colombian off early with a second yellow card. "I don’t want to argue for a penalty here, but that’s definitely not a dive," Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich had ranted on DAZN. Manager Vincent Kompany also railed: "Nobody in the stadium knows why he got a yellow-red card."

Meanwhile, Dietmar Hamann, a former Bayern player, sided with Dingert. For the Sky pundit, the referee’s decision to rule Diaz’s challenge as a dive and send him off with a second yellow card was “entirely understandable”.

Hamann explained his viewpoint by referring to a trend in football that bothers him: “In recent months, or even years, this diving has crept back into the game – this business of letting oneself fall and provoking penalties. And it was high time that this was put a stop to – even with a booking, and even if it’s the second one and leads to a sending-off. That’s why I’m fully behind the referee; as far as I’m concerned, he made the right decision.”

Kompany was also very annoyed, however, that Diaz will now be unavailable for the final match before the international break. The 29-year-old attacking midfielder will miss next Saturday’s home game against Union Berlin through suspension.

The incident involving Diaz in the penalty area was by no means the only moment that caused a stir at the BayArena on Saturday afternoon. Whilst a red card shown to FCB striker Nicolas Jackson just before the half-time whistle was widely regarded as justified, one of the two disallowed Bayern goals in particular sparked heated debate.

After an hour, Harry Kane, who had come on as a substitute shortly before, blocked a long clearance from Leverkusen goalkeeper Blaswich with his elbow. Diaz then won the ball in Bayer’s penalty area and played it to Kane, who only had to slot it home for what would have been the equaliser. However, following a VAR review, the goal was disallowed as Dingert ruled that Kane had handled the ball.

Dingert stood by his decision after the final whistle: “From my position, I didn’t initially notice it. The VAR advised me to take another look at the behind-the-goal perspective. And that’s when I saw it: the arm moves slightly into the path of the shot. That initiated the attacking phase and allowed Bayern to control the move.”

Bayern took a different view. "To me, that’s clearly a legitimate goal," emphasised Kompany, whilst centre-back Jonathan Tag told Sky: "To me, that’s not handball. He turns away; his arm isn’t far from his body. So to me, it’s not handball, but the referee decided otherwise."

The fact that Bayern managed to take a point from Leverkusen after falling behind early on (Aleix Garcia, 6th minute) was down to Diaz’s goal to make it 1-1 in the 69th minute. As Borussia Dortmund won 2-0 against FC Augsburg at the same time, the FCB’s lead over their closest rivals has shrunk to nine points. Nevertheless, Bayern are unlikely to be denied their next league title in the remaining eight matchdays.