On Matchday 26 of the Bundesliga, a curious incident occurred during the early kick-off on Friday evening between Borussia Dortmund and Augsburg. In the match, which ended 2-0 to the Black and Yellows thanks to goals from Adeyemi and the first goal in Germany by Italian centre-back Luca Reggiani (born in 2008, making his first start), the home side’s midfielder Felix Nmecha was shown a red card, on which the referee even wrote a personal message.
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Borussia Dortmund v Augsburg: Nmecha knocks the referee to the ground and is shown a red card... with a special message: the incident in the Bundesliga
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THE EPISODE
Let’s recap the situation: in the 55th minute, whilst attempting to win the ball back with a sliding tackle, Nmecha accidentally collided with referee Bastian Dankert and knocked him to the ground. Play was halted for a few minutes to allow the referee to recover from the blow to his back; shortly afterwards, he got back to his feet and resumed the match. After the match, amid general laughter, he handed the Dortmund player a red card on which he wrote “think twice about your tackles”, along with the date and match details. Nmecha commented on the incident with a touch of irony: “I wasn’t hurt; I think the only ones who suffered were his shoulders; otherwise, I would have got the ball. I hope he’s alright.”