Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham was fined 40000 euros by the German Football Association (DFB) on Tuesday for “match-fixing” statements after his team beat Bayern Munich 3-2 against referee Felix Zwayer. However, the 18-year-old England international avoided the ban as he expressed disappointment with the standard of play in the classic clash.
Zwayer was the referee at Der Klassiker when Bayern Munich overtook Dortmund at the Westfalenstadion or Signal Iduna Park on Saturday. Robert Lewandowski scored the winning goal of the football match from the penalty spot which did not go down well with English international Bellingham. “For me, it wasn’t a penalty. He’s not even looking at the ball, he’s fighting to get it and it hits him,” Bellingham said.
“Mats Hummels doesn’t even see the ball, he struggles to get it, and he just hits it, hits it, and I don’t think he’s looking at the ball. You can see a lot of game decisions, give a referee who fixed the match before the biggest match in Germany, what do you expect?” he added.
A complaint was then filed against Bellingham for his controversial comments about Zwayer, which led to an investigation. Jude Bellingham although escaped a ban for his comments but was fined 40000 euros, with his post-match quotes being deemed “unsportsmanlike conduct”. Led by Borussia Dortmund, Bayern took a significant step towards the top of the Christmas pile, opening a four-point gap between them and the league’s biggest rivals.
