Bayer Leverkusen CEO seeks ‘penalty’ after stunning DFB-Pokal loss

Bayer Leverkusen’s CEO believes a penalty should be imposed on third-tier Arminia Bielefeld for not watering their pitch before knocking out the Bundesliga champions in the DFB-Pokal semi-finals.

Pokal holders Leverkusen took the lead in Tuesday’s last-four clash took the lead when Jonathan Tah bundled in at the far post.

However, Arminia, now in the 3. Liga after successive relegations, produced a remarkable turnaround thanks to goals from Marius Worl and Maximilian Grosser to end Leverkusen’s Pokal defence.

Leverkusen became the fourth Bundesliga side Arminia have eliminated in the Pokal this season, following wins over Freiburg, Union Berlin and Werder Bremen. Arminia started the competition with a first-round win over Hannover, sixth in the 2. Bundesliga. They will face either Stuttgart or RB Leipzig in the final.

But rather than focusing on congratulating Arminia on their remarkable achievement, Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro took issue with the playing surface.

“I was annoyed before the game that the pitch had not been watered,” Carro said. “I must speak to [Andreas] Rettig [DFB Managing Director for Sport] about that.”

On Leverkusen’s performance, he added: “It was a collective failure.

“The expectation was that we would deliver our best performance today, but we didn’t deliver. Still, it annoys me that the pitch wasn’t watered. That’s a regulatory issue. The DFB should impose a penalty. That doesn’t work. That is not acceptable.”

Carro did, however, concede that the result was a fair one.

“They deserved to win,” Carro said of Arminia.

Cup magic at its finest!

Arminia Bielefeld takes down the reigning champions, Bayer Leverkusen, and secures a place in their first-ever DFB-Pokal final! #DFB #GermanFootball #DFBPokal pic.twitter.com/puywRuCZZI

— German Football (@DFB_Team_EN) April 1, 2025

Arminia’s sporting director Michael Mutzel was quick to reject Carro’s complaints.

“We talked to the referee about it before the game,” said Mutzel. “If the pitch has been watered in the morning, then it doesn’t need to be watered again [before the match]. Watering on the day is enough.

“We don’t do that [water pitches before kick-off] for our league matches. So, why should we do that today? We would be at a disadvantage if we watered the pitch.”

Head coach Michel Kniat was similarly dismissive of Carro’s claims, and pointed out that Leverkusen had an extra day to prepare having contested their most recent league game last Friday. Arminia, fourth in the 3.Liga, played on Saturday.

“Those are our rules here,” Kniat told reporters. “We would also have liked one more day off.”

Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso was more sincere in his magnanimity than Carro.

“Of course everyone is disappointed, but I also have to congratulate Arminia Bielefeld,” Alonso said. “They played better and were better in everything else too.

“We didn’t have a good game today and are therefore disappointed. We had no control and made individual mistakes. Nothing worked today.”

Six points behind Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and having already been eliminated by the same foes in the Champions League, the likelihood is that last season’s incredible double will be followed by a campaign from which the DFL-Supercup will be their only prize.

But Alonso said of the team and their uphill fight in the Bundesliga title race: “This team has already given us so much, considering what we achieved last year in the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal and [this year] in the Champions League.

“But even in moments like this now, we stay together, which is also important.

“Of course, I’m not satisfied, but you have to accept that. We have to [give everything in the Bundesliga], that’s our competition now and our goal. It won’t be easy, but we’ll try.”

Leverkusen will attempt to put Tuesday’s humbling behind them when they visit relegation-threatened Heidenheim on Saturday. With Bayern facing Augsburg on Friday, Leverkusen could be nine points adrift by the time they kick off.