´Unacceptable´ refereeing irks Klopp

Juergen Klopp has expressed dismay at Tobias Welz’s refereeing performance in Borussia Dortmund’s 1-1 draw with Nuremberg on Saturday.

Having fallen behind to a Tomas Pekhart header on 31 minutes, Dortmund did well to respond when Jakub Blasczczykowski equalised five minutes before half -time, but could not muster a winner in the second half.

The game became increasingly combative after the interval but Klopp thought the referee intervened needlessly on several occasions.

“What was unacceptable was the refereeing performance,” the German coach told Spox. “It is so hard to play football when that happens.

“We have been the fairest team for three consecutive years and today we got more yellow cards than Nuremberg. Nobody wanted to play unfairly today, but there were free kicks for no reason.

“The opposition made it very hard for us, playing in many one-on-one duels, man marking in order to take Mats (Hummels) and Marco (Reus) out of the game.”

Dortmund have a win and a draw to show from their opening two matches of the Bundesliga season.