Borussia Dortmund's players and coach were left fuming over the decision to award a 77th minute penalty that handed Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich a 3-2 victory in their top-of-the-table clash on Saturday.
Robert Lewandowski stepped up to convert the spot kick after a lengthy VAR review of a handball by Dortmund defender Mats Hummels, who had attempted to head a corner away but looked to have touched the ball with his elbow.
"It was an extremely wild game and a great one for the fans and it is two times more bitter to lose like that," said Dortmund captain Marco Reus.
Reus was then shown replays of Hummel's handball to which he responded: "This was a very hard decision to award a penalty for this.
"Mats really tries to get in there with his head and he needs his body to do that."
Dortmund's ire was not helped after they had earlier had two claims for a penalty themselves with referee Felix Zwayer refusing both times to review them.
In one of them Reus went down in the box after a challenge with Lucas Hernandez in the 54th minute and the Dortmund captain said Zwayer should have at least watched it again.
"When you see the replay it looks really bad," Reus said of his penalty claim. "It is a shame that he did not review that one."
When Bayern were given their penalty Dortmund coach Marco Rose lost his cool on the bench, shouting in the direction of the referee and being sent to the stands for a second booking.
He had been shown a yellow card when Reus went down in the box.
Dortmund's first home loss of the season left them in second place on 30 points, four behind leaders Bayern after 14 matches.
"It's a shame that such a crappy penalty decides the game," Dortmund midfielder Emre Can said. "I'm sorry I have to say that.
"I stand here and talk again about a referee's decision. We played a great game today and then this happens."
Zwayer said he saw Hummels' elbow make contact with the ball, but he wasn't sure whether the elbow was in or out, so he checked the video footage. He said it wasn't necessary to check Reus' penalty appeal because he had a clear view of the incident and the video referee watching in Cologne did not contradict his decision.
“I had a very clear and unambiguous impression that was ultimately checked and also confirmed on the monitor in Cologne,” said Zwayer, who had allowed a free-flowing game.
After Lewandowski’s penalty, the match resumed to whistles from the home fans – just 15,000 due to new coronavirus restrictions. Dortmund had to cancel and refund all 67,000 it previously sold for the game.
It was Bayern’s sixth consecutive win over Dortmund and it puts the Bavarians on course for a record-extending 10th consecutive title.
"I think we deserved to win but I also understand the discussions over the two penalty situations," Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann said.
Poland striker Lewandowski opened his account in the ninth minute to level after Dortmund had taken an early lead through Julian Brandt, and then converted a controversial 77th-minute spot kick to seal victory with his 16th goal of the campaign.
Kingsley Coman had put Bayern in front a minute before the break before Erling Haaland equalised for the hosts with a superbly curled effort in the 48th.
